Visions of Truth
by Nevelyna
Summary: They called her a witch, but she wasn't, not really. So what if her vivid dreams came true? An outcast at her former school, Elena transfers to commence her Senior year at Spencer Academy, hoping that with a clean slate, she'll finally make friends.CD/OC
1. Elena's Past

Visions of Truth

Visions of Truth

Chapter One: Elena's Past

Disclaimer – Okay, I don't usually write disclaimers because, really, people should be able to know that whatever they do recognize, I don't own, and whatever they don't recognize, I do own. But there is a special case in this story. I just want to point out that Elena's power is based loosely off of L.J. Smith's character of Kaitlyn in her Dark Visions book trilogy. And so are the circumstances of her former school social status. Which, of course, I do not own, I just thought that it was a great way to paint a character that would fit wonderfully into the Covenant world. So, now that you know this, remember it, because there won't be any more disclaimers about it or the Covenant characters.

Elena could not believe it when her parents told her that she would be transferring to a different high school for her Senior year.

Of course, it wasn't as if she had any friends that she would miss seeing everyday or anything, Elena didn't have any friends at all. Of course, that was what same with being the school nerd, even if she did excel in most athletics and the drama club, and even the chorus for that matter.

But even nerds should have at least a small group of one or two other nerds as a support system, right? It was like that in all the movies about high schools: a table for the popular kids, one for the jocks, another for the rockers/Goth people, and of course the band got their own, and then there was also the table in the farthest corner of the outcast kids doing their homework and discussing the new feature capabilities of the PS3 and playing the magic card game or something.

Well, Elena could walk into the Edmondson Academy cafeteria at lunch time and there they would all be, the popular kids, the jocks, the Goths, the band geeks, the nerds, and even the freaking drama club all sat together… without her. Because you could be relatively accepted at the nerd table if you were a nerd, you would be accepted for reading lines instead of eating by the drama club especially if you had the lead, you should have been welcomed wholeheartedly by the jocks if you were the captain of three sports.

But the school witch would never be accepted anywhere.

Of course, you would think that if everyone in the school thought you did magic spells and all that crap that the Goth table, full of girls and guys alike calling themselves pagans, would welcome you with open arms whether you like it or not right? Not a chance in hell at this school.

Because who ever _really_ heard of a girl whose dreams always came true? And not just as in déjà vu either, but real things, like Tanya Hancock falling of the top of the pyramid at a pep rally in the ninth grade and landing on her head.

Elena had thought to help by yelling out through the commotion, "She's not dead! She'll just be in a coma for a couple of months. She'll be going to the Valentine's dance and everything!" And when everyone had simply scoffed she stupidly added, "I'm serious! I dreamed this last night." Again, at the time, everyone had laughed it off, thinking that she, being a the starring actress in the school play, had only been using a type of improvisation to lighten the mood as the girl, who was not dead, was taken away in an ambulance.

But then Tanya's condition had been confirmed as comatose due to slight swelling in her brain. And then, towards the end of January, she had woken up. And February 12th, she had been discharged from the hospital. The next day, she and her mother went shopping for a new dress, and on Valentine's day, she walking into the school gymnasium on her boyfriend's arm, as healthy as a horse.

The entire room had gone silent, even the student DJ had stopped the music, and then, in a sudden wave, everyone had turned to look at the girl with the beautiful, strange eyes who had predicted it.

The girl who had come with the football quarterback Dylan Meyers, and who sat calmly, sipping her punch and smiling at the recovered cheerleader, not knowing that, by the end of the night, she would be the school pariah, never to be spoken to or looked at unless it was absolutely necessary.

No one would look her in the eyes from that night onward. Those strange 'witchy' eyes that swirled brown and green and gold, changing colors in light and shade, and they would even look different on different days. One day they would be green with flecks of brown, and the next day they would be a deep brown and you could hardly see the green. And then, on some days the colors would mix and swirl together so that half of her iris was green and the other half was brown, always with slight glints of gold in their depths.

Her entire life, and the entire school, changed that night. The teachers sent her to the counselor to see if anything could be done, but the counselor could find nothing wrong, other than the insane fact that every single one of the girl's dreams were true, and after being told that she was going to walk in on her husband cheating on her with her sister that evening, and then doing just that, the counselor refused any more meetings with the girl, and, when she was pressured, quit immediately.

The new counselor could find nothing wrong either, and after giving up ever doing so, merely told the girl to fill out a journal of her dream visions and turn it in weekly, cautioning the girl to keep them to herself, no matter how much good she thought telling someone that they were going to lose their new cell phone in the girl's locker room that day. And Elena, having ended up in the nurses office with a bloody and several missing strands of hair after not listening to the advice, decided that what the counselor had suggested was for the best.

Edmondson Academy had needed to change in other ways too. Though some of the teachers and coaches decided to overlook Elena's 'condition', none of it's students would.

The drama teacher continued to cast Elena in plays, and the lead role in most of them, but when boys stopped auditioning altogether in case they got a role that called for kissing the school witch, the teacher had simply begun putting on plays where no characters kissed, and where most characters hardly ever had any interaction with each other.

Elena's volleyball coach thought nothing of giving Elena the Captain's position on the team in her junior year, especially due to the fact that ever since her freshman year Elena had been staying and working out for a t least an hour after all the other girls had gone, so as not to have to make the team uncomfortable in the showers, and waiting until every last one of them had left. And the same had happened in soccer and in cross-country, as she had stayed behind in both of those sports as well.

It was those positions that she had been promised her senior year at Edmondson Academy, and it was those Captaincies that she hated being ripped away from. She had even had a shot at a co-captain spot on track and field this year as well.

There were only a few good things about moving to this Spencer Academy place in a little town called Ipswich, Massachusetts: One, that her counseling records would be sealed and never read; Two, that there spots open for tryouts in all her sports – cross-country, volleyball, soccer, and track and field; Three, there was also a spot for a tryout in lacrosse, something that she had never played but always wanted to try; And four, that it would be a fresh start at a new school where nobody knew who she was, and where no one would ever know about her dreams. There would be no 'witches' at Spenser Academy.


	2. Caleb's Present

Visions of Truth

Visions of Truth

Chapter Two: Caleb's Present

Caleb Danvers could not believe what he was hearing. This could not be happening, it just wasn't possible. But it was happening, to him, right now. His girlfriend of almost an entire year, Sarah Wenham, was breaking up with him.

He was hearing the words come out of her mouth, but he still didn't believe that it was possible. Sure, she had been a bit distant for a few months now, but he had figured that it was just because of the family vacations that her family had taken over the summer, not this, never this.

"You've-" He halted briefly, swallowing imaginary bile that he had felt rising in his throat. "You've been seeing someone else?" Sarah's forehead puckered at him from across the table.

"Not really." She said. "I met him when we took that trip back to Boston a few months ago, and we've been talking over the phone and e-mailing. It was just a friendship really, kind of like pen pals, but, I don't know, I guess it just, well, blossomed into something else."

"It blossomed." Caleb repeated blankly, staring at his hands. They seemed to be ripping the straw wrapper in his fingers to tiny pieces, but he couldn't feel himself doing it, numb as he was. Sarah sighed and put her hand on his on top of the table. They immediately pulled themselves away from her warm touch, closer to his end of the table.

"I'm so sorry, Caleb." She said, replacing her hand in her lap, "I never meant to hurt you, this just sort of, happened."

"It happened." Caleb repeated again, God even his brain was numb, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'd like to still be friends, though." She said, trying to prod an original thought out of him. "I'll still be going to school here, I won't be moving back to Boston or anything."

"Friends." This time Caleb's voice was a little strained, as if his insides were being twisted, oh wait, they were. No wonder he sounded like it. Sarah sighed again, and this time it had an annoyed edge to it.

"Look at me, Caleb!" She ordered, and he did so, slowly, only to find that her face was, indeed, annoyed with him. Now wait just a second. His brain began to think again, and now _he_ got angry.

What right in hell did this girl have to be annoyed with him? _She_ was the one who had decided to and fall in love with some guy that she had hung out with in Boston for two weeks. _She_ was the one who had decided to throw a year-long relationship out the window for said cyber guy. And now she was going to get annoyed with him because he didn't want to process it at the moment, especially not here, at Nicky's, with his friends watching avidly from across the room.

His eyes grew cold and he sat back in his chair, arms folding across his muscled chest. "Let me get this straight, Sarah." He said, his voice colder than ice. "You want to break up because you're in love with this Boston cyber pen pal guy that you've been carrying on with behind my back for two months, and you still want to be friends? You're supposedly a smart girl, Sarah, wanting to get into Harvard and all, surely you should be able to answer that for yourself."

Sarah looked stung, her face falling, but Caleb found that, at this moment, he didn't really care. "I just thought that, you know, with all we've been through together… I mean, you saved my life, Caleb." Her eyes pleaded with him, but he scoffed humorlessly.

"Yeah, you're right. I did save your life." He said, stranding up and leaning his hands on the table so that he could press his face close to hers. "And if this is the thanks that I get for it, then you're not the girl I fell in love with. So fine, go ahead and tell this guy of yours that you're a free woman, but don't think for one second that I'm going to forget this. I may forgive you, but it'll be a very long time from now, and until that day, I don't think that 'friends' will be a very good word to describe our non-existent relationship." And with that, he grabbed his jacket of the back of his chair and strode out of the bar, leaving the shocked love of his life staring after him.

But he should have known that he would not be left alone to get in his car and drive until he felt a bit better, for his brothers would never allow him to face something like this alone. As soon as he had stepped outside into the August night, he paused to take a deep breath of the cool air, and in that pause, he heard the door opening again behind him.

"What happened, man?" Reid asked, his voice uncharacteristically concerned. Caleb sighed and turned around to face his three 'brothers'.

"Sarah and I broke up." He said, knowing that if he didn't tell them now, they would keep pestering him until he did. "She apparently found someone else when she went up to Boston." Reid and Tyler cursed almost simultaneously, and Pogue stepped to Caleb's side, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm really sorry, man." He said. "Is there anything that we can do?"

Caleb shook his head, feeling a lump growing in his throat. "I'm just going to head home, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"You coming to the party tomorrow night?" Reid asked him. "There's sure to be some smoking hot babes there. One or two of them are sure to make you forget all about Wenham." If Caleb could have, he might have laughed. Reid Garwin had always been a ladies man. 'Use 'em and lose 'em' had been his motto for a long time now, and he could always be counted on to make a sexual reference about anything, or link anything to sex. Because, to Reid, sex _was_ the answer to everything.

"Thanks." He said. "But I don't think I'll go. She'll be there, and she said that new guy was going to come down for the day and go with her, and I don't think I want to see that."

"Well, then go and find some random girl and start flirting with her, show Sarah that you're not going to take this lying down." Pogue said.

"Unless you're lying on top of someone else." Reid added, grinning wickedly. Pogue reached out and slapped him upside the head. "Or underneath someone, whichever you prefer." This time when Pogue's hand came up, Reid managed to dodge it, chuckling the whole time.

"Or, you could at least get yourself raving drunk, and then you just won't care." Tyler said, putting his two cents worth in calmly.

Caleb shook his head. "Thanks guys." He said. "But I think that I'd really rather just not go."

"Aw, come on, Caleb!" Reid cried. "It's the annual beach party. Our one last chance to go all the way out before we have to go back to hell." Hell meaning the beginning of their senior year at Spencer Academy. "And besides," He added, staring Caleb down. "It's the last time we get to do this, and it wouldn't be right without the fourth Son of Ipswich."

Caleb paused. Reid was right. This was the last time, for anything really. It was their last year at Spencer, soon they might all be going their separate ways to their respective college's, unless the unlikely happened and they all decided to go to the same school. Caleb decided that he would be damned before he let Sarah ruin his last year with his brothers.

"All right." He said, smiling at the three boys in front of him. "I'll go"

He would go to that beach party tomorrow night. And he would drink and he would dance, and he may even find a girl worth flirting with. But the point was that he would have a good time with the only people that mattered, his brothers.


	3. Party Boredom

Author's notes… Wow, I've never done these before… I'd really just like to thank those of you who have reviewed, I'm so glad t

Author's notes… Wow, I've never done these before… I'd really just like to thank those of you who have reviewed, I'm so glad that you like this story! I just came up with it as a spur of the moment thing, and I'm really hoping that it doesn't go the way of my Superman and Phantom of the Opera fictions, and I swear that I'm going to try my hardest to keep it going. But, just for future reference, if I do go a few days without updating, I'm sorry in advance, and I'll try to get a new chapter up as soon as I can get it out of my stubborn head!

Chapter Three: Party Boredom

She really shouldn't have come to this beach party thing tonight. She was already worn out from moving into her dorm room that afternoon, and she still had some stock-shopping to do tomorrow, as well as finish unpacking, which she really should be doing right now, seeing as how her try-outs were Monday after school, just the day after tomorrow.

Luckily, she had gotten a single room, and even though it was much smaller than her bedroom back in North Carolina with her parents, it was hers alone. She had specifically asked for a room to herself due to the fact that she wanted no one, _no one_, to know about her 'condition'. It would have been nearly impossible to keep her dreams from disturbing a roommate sleeping not two feet away, and then there would have been the endless questions and concern. It really was better this way, even though she saw all the reunions in the hallways today as roommates hugged and laughed and exclaimed, and felt just as lonely as she had during her years at Edmondson.

She had just made out a list of all the things she would need from a trip into the quaint little town tomorrow and was about to settle into the task of unpacking her many boxes and suitcases and whatnot when there had been a knock on her door. Wondering who in the world it could, she set down her notebook and pen and went to the door.

Opening it revealed a boy of about eighteen or nineteen with shaggy dirty blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and a fairly large nose. He wore nice jeans that didn't have any rips in them, a dark gray sports jacket, and a crisp white shirt with the top three buttons undone, revealing an array of pendant necklaces. He wore a large smile on his face, his teeth a little crooked but very white, but it faltered slightly when he saw Elena.

"Hey! Oh." He said, his forehead crinkling slightly.

Elena smiled crookedly back up at him. "Looking for someone else?" She asked, not bothered by his disappointment in the least. She had not expected anyone to be looking for her.

"Um, yes, actually." He said, looking a bit sheepish. "Is Sarah here?"

Elena shook her head. "No, this is a single room, and I don't know any Sarah. Are you sure that you have the right room number?"

The boy sighed. "I thought I did. This isn't room Five-Oh-Five?" He asked, glancing over at the dimly lit number on the door.

Elena smirked a bit and shook her head again. "No, I'm afraid it's Five-Fifteen. The room you're looking for is down that way." She pointed briefly down the hall to the right.

"Oh! Well, then, I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He said, looking eager to be on his way to this Sarah's room.

"It's not a problem." Elena said, closing the door and going over to her bed. She began to unpack the suitcase that lay atop the bare mattress, glad that she had picked the right one as she opened it to reveal her bed linens. Unpacking them and putting a set at the head of her bed, she placed the others on the top shelf in the tiny closet, and had almost made it back to the suitcase when another knock sounded on the door.

Sighing and figuring that it was another person who had gotten her room number mixed up with someone else's, she opened the door again, this time revealing a slight girl with strawberry-ish blonde hair, another girl with a beautiful mocha complexion, and the same boy from before. Smiling politely, she asked, "Yes? Can I help you?"

The blonde girl smiled brightly at her. "Hi." She said. "I'm Sarah Wenham. This is my roommate Kate and my boyfriend Paul. I just wanted to thank you for helping Paul find our room, and I was wondering if you needed a ride to the beach party at the Dells tonight."

Elena took a mental step back. This girl sure did talk an awful lot. She took a moment to process everything the girl had said before replying. "Well, you're welcome, but I didn't really do anything, and what party?"

"You don't know about the party? Oh wow, you have to come. It's tradition, the last full blow out before the school year begins. Of course, I've only been to it once, but it was lots of fun!" Sarah gushed so hard that she all but grabbed Elena's arm in excitement.

"Well, I'm really very new here, and I don't know anyone, so it would probably be awkward or something." Elena couldn't really think of anything to say to the girl, as she was a bit dumbfounded. She hadn't been invited to a party in years, she hadn't even been welcome at cast parties on the opening nights of schools plays.

"Oh, you're silly!" Sarah said, and this time she did grab Elena's wrist. "That's all the more reason why you have to come! So that you can meet everyone." Her eyes quickly took in the state of Elena's box filled room, and she added, "You can finish up all of this tomorrow. Who knows? You might even find someone who'll help you."

Elena glanced at the other two of the group. Paul wasn't paying any attention, just staring down the hall as if eager to get going. Kate was looking at Elena a bit sympathetically. "It _will_ be a lot of fun." She said, her voice, unlike her roommates, rather calm.

"All right." Elena said, becoming a bit excited now, as well. "I guess this could all wait, but I'd like to take my own car there, if you don't mind, just in case I decide to leave before ya'll do."

Sarah didn't miss a beat, exclaiming that it was fine, perfect even, and Kate's face lightened a bit. "Do you think that I could ride with you, then?" She asked, her voice slightly hopeful. "You know, to give these two love birds some privacy." And Elena nodded, saying that it was fine with her.

"So, do you want to change first?" Sarah had asked, taking in Elena's outfit of old soft jeans, sandals, a white camisole, and one of her father's old, extremely soft brown button ups over the camisole and tied at her waist briefly. Elena had shaken her head no, and had grabbed her keys, cell phone and license before heading out of the room with the threesome.

And now, here she was, not really having a lot of fun. The music was far too loud, the entire beach stank of alcohol, and the amount of groping going on was entirely too much for a 'good' southern girl to handle. She had tried to mingle at first, but by the third time her backside had been pinched, she had decided that being in the midst of the crowd was not at all worth it.

So she had wandered a bit away from the party and down the beach a bit, grimacing at and skirting around any moaning couples she came upon, and now she sat in the sand, her shoes beside her hip and her toes scrunched in the sand. She had been to the beach only once in her childhood, and had never forgotten the beauty of it.

She was looking out over the inky blackness that mirrored the starry sky above it, enjoying the sounds of the crashing waves and the distant music, when there was a sudden sound to her left, and something extremely heavy crashed down over her legs, spraying her with sand, and undoubtedly causing a few bruises. She was angry for a split second before noticing that the thing that had fallen onto he was a body, now lying on her legs facedown in the sand.

Dragging her legs from underneath it, she rolled it over, and could just see the grinning face of a very handsome boy. Said boy reeked of alcohol, and was apparently breathing, but she asked, "Are you all right?" anyway.

Giggling with his eyes tightly closed, the boy muttered, "Sorry. That was a whoops."

Elena nodded and tried not to breathe, because even drawing air through her mouth, she could taste the scent of alcohol this guy was giving off. "Do you need some help?" She asked, but the boy shook his head.

"No, I'm just gonna lay here for a while." His words were slurred, and she could only just make them out.

Wincing a little as she breathed, she said, "Are you sure that's wise?" He didn't answer so she shook her head. "Look, why don't I help you back to the party and we'll find your friends so that they can take you home, all right?"

The boy shook his head again. "No, they don't wanna leave yet, so I'm gonna have to wait."

Elena sighed heavily. "Then I'll take you home, I'm ready to leave anyway. I'll just grab Kate and tell her that I'm leaving if she wants to come along."

The boy perked up a bit. "Kate? You know Kate?" He asked, still not opening his eyes. Elena figured that he probably didn't realize that they were shut, so intoxicated was he.

"I drove her here." She explained. "I don't really know her, why? Do you?"

The boy nodded emphatically. "Kate's Pogue's girl. Wait, you're Ellen, right?" He asked.

"Elena." She corrected.

"Yeah, that's it, she told us about you, said you were nice." The boy had apparently decided to go on to a different subject.

"Well, I'll have to thank her." Elena said.

"She was wondering where you went off to, she wanted to introduce us to you."

"Oh, well, it was really loud, so I came out here." She explained.

"Well, of course it was loud, Lena, it's a party." He slurred.

Elena hummed slightly in grudging agreement before reaching out and tugging his arm gently, marveling at the tone of the hard muscle beneath his shirt. "Well, come on, let's get you home where you can sleep this off in relative comfort." She said.

The boy's eyes opened slowly, revealing a deep dark color that was indiscernible in the darkness. They stared up into hers for a long moment, making her slightly uncomfortable. "Kate was right." He said. "You are pretty."


	4. Pretty Girl

Chapter Four: Pretty Girl

Chapter Four: Pretty Girl

Caleb was drunk. So drunk, in fact, that he couldn't walk straight. He had told himself that he wasn't going to drink very much tonight, as he wanted to have his wits about him, but that conviction had gone straight out the window when he had seen Sarah and her new, very handsome boyfriend making out while dancing.

Now that he was drunk, though, he found that he didn't really care, about anything actually. And he could find little things about the boy that were not so handsome, and that made him feel even better, so he guessed he did care a little bit after all, huh, that was funny. He giggled slightly.

"What's so funny, Caleb?" Pogue asked, his arm around his girlfriend, Kate.

Caleb giggled again. "Sarah's boyfriend's nose is too big for his face." He said, taking another drink from his bottle.

Pogue raised his eyebrows and nodded indulgently. "Okay, Caleb." He said, exchanging glances with Kate. "Why don't we make this your last beer, huh?"

Caleb's forehead puckered. "Why?" He asked, gripping his bottle protectively.

Kate smiled softly at him. "Because you're already very… um… tipsy." She said, gently admonishing him. "And there's someone that I really wanted you boys to meet, but she seems to have disappeared."

"She?" Pogue asked, while Caleb began giggling again.

"Poof." He muttered, taking yet another drink.

Pogue looked over at him. "What, Caleb?" He asked, trying vainly to keep the smile from his face.

Caleb cleared his throat, trying to stop his giggling. "Kate said she disappeared, she just went 'Poof'." And now he and Pogue laughed loudly, and even Kate chuckled a bit.

When the boys had calmed a bit, leaving Caleb giggling at his own wit, Pogue asked, "So who is this disappearing girl?"

"She lives on our floor, in a single. She just moved here from North Carolina, I think. She's very sweet, pretty, too." Kate said, looking about the crowded beach for the disappearing girl. "Her name is Elena something or other. I don't see her anywhere."

"Describe her to me, maybe I can find her." Pogue suggested, looking out over the heads of the crowd.

Kate thought for a moment. "About five foot five." She said. "Long brown hair, but it's up in a bun. Long sleeve brown shirt and jeans."

Pogue shook his head, though. "Nope, I don't see her anywhere. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll come and find you when she's ready to go home. Kate nodded, though she looked a bit disappointed.

"I had hoped to hang out with her a bit more tonight." She said, wrapping her arms around Pogue's waist. "She's a lot better company right now than Sarah is."

Pogue snorted. "I can imagine." He scoffed. "She and Sir Kiss-a-lot don't seem very social at the moment."

Kate shuddered. "That's not the worst of it." She said. "She talks about him almost non-stop. It always 'Paul said this', and 'Paul wants to do this'. It's driving me absolutely bananas."

"B-a-n-a-n-a-s." Caleb said, giggling. "You know, I watched this one show a few weeks ago with Sarah. It was this comedian, I don't remember what his name was, and he said that bananas was really hard word to spell, because of the a's and the n's. That you'd start off good with b-a-n, and you'd be good, see, but then you'd add a-n-a-n, and you just be, like, 'shit, I went too far!' It was funny." He said, laughing so hard that his side hurt.

Pogue and Kate just watched him, concerned. "Right." Pogue said, reaching for Caleb. "I think you've had about enough there, man." And he gently pried the bottle away from Caleb's fingers.

Caleb almost protested, but the bottle was almost empty anyway, so he let it go without a fight. "I'm going to find Reid and Tyler." Pogue said. "I think it's about time we went home, and the cops are sure to show up soon anyways. Come with me, Kate?" Kate nodded, and with a warning to Caleb not to move, the couple moved away.

But Caleb had no intention of staying where he was. He was going to go and find himself another bottle. He wandered along the shoreline in search of one of the many buckets, never noticing in his haze that he was getting farther and farther away from the noise and light of the party.

Soon, it was far too dark for him to be able to see anything, but he wasn't really bothered by it. He just kept stumbling along, not really caring where he was going. Then, all of the sudden, his feet decide to fight each other, and one tripped it's mate, sending him sprawling. But it was not the soft landing of sand that he landed on, oh no, it was something much harder and… well… bonier, would be his guess.

The stick things beneath him shifted, and he realized that he had landed on a person. And for some very odd reason, that seemed incredibly funny to his alcohol-logged brain that he grinned like an idiot as the person rolled him onto his back.

"Are you all right?" A sweet voice asked. Ah, so it was a girl. Someone had told him to find a girl to flirt with, who was it? Oh, yeah, Reid. Well, it looked as if he had stumbled into one… quite literally in fact.

He couldn't quite stop himself from giggling and heard himself say, "Sorry. That was a whoops." Wow, the night was really dark, he thought, there weren't even any stars in the inky black sky. He couldn't see the face of the girl he was talking to, and he wondered what she looked like.

"Do you need some help?" The voice asked. She didn't sound that far away from him, but he still could not see her.

"No." He said, shaking his head and feeling the loose sand beneath it. It wasn't his pillow at home, but it was all right. "I'm just gonna lay here for a while."

"Are you sure that's wise?" The girl asked, and Caleb decided not to answer. He didn't really care if it was wise or not, it was comfortable, that was really all that mattered to him right now. He heard the girl sigh lightly.

"Look," She said, sounding the tiniest bit exasperated. "Why don't I help you back to the party and we'll find your friends so that they can take you home, all right?"

Caleb thought of Tyler, Reid and Pogue. Pogue really had wanted to spend tonight with Kate, and Caleb knew that he didn't really want to leave her so early into the party. Kate, too, was not quite ready to leave, as she had wanted to introduce them all to her new friend, the disappearing girl, and would be pretty disappointed if she was denied that. Caleb didn't really know what Reid and Tyler were doing, but they had been the most adamant about him coming to this party, and he was sure that neither of the two wanted to leave just yet, either.

So he shook his head, again, feeling as if his brain were sloshing about in his head. "No, they don't wanna leave yet." He said. "So I'm gonna have to wait." This was a nice spot to wait, too, he thought. It was very peaceful and a lot quieter than the party area. And there was no Sarah and Paul over here either, just a girl whose attention was focused solely on him. And that in and of itself was kind of nice.

The girl sighed again, a sound that he found that he actually enjoyed. When Sarah sighed, she made this sound in her throat that stared to get annoying after a while, but this girl's sighs were silent, just air that hit his face coolly and gently.

"Then I'll take you home." The girl offered. "I'm ready to leave anyway. I'll just grab Kate and tell her that I'm leaving if she wants to come along." This perked Caleb's interest even more. She knew Kate? She had driven Kate? The mocha-skinned girl had mentioned something like that, something that Caleb should remember.

He thought hard about it as he asked, "Kate? You know Kate?"

"I drove her here." She said. Well, that had been obvious, form what she had stated before. But Caleb should know this girl's name, Kate had said it. "I don't really know her, why? Do you?"

Caleb almost scoffed, did he know Kate Tunney, indeed. "Kate's Pogue's girl." He said, stating the obvious. What had Kate said her name was? It started with a vowel, didn't it. Then an L. Alana, no that wasn't it. It was an E, actually, that he was sure of now. E and then an L. Hmm.

He decided to just guess based on those two letters. "You're Ellen, right?" He asked, hoping that was right.

"Elena." The girl said, and Caleb inwardly winced. He should have remembered that. He wished he could see her. Kate had said that she was pretty.

"Yeah, that's it." He said. "She told us about you, said you were nice." Which was true, actually. She was going out of her way to help him in his drunken state. So Kate had been right about one out of two. Why couldn't he see her, she had to be not ten inches from his face.

"Well," The girl said, and she sounded as if she were smiling. "I'll have to thank her."

"She was wondering where you went off to." Caleb said, still wondering about her looks, and not really sure why. "She wanted to introduce us to you." Or her to them, he couldn't really remember the exact conversation.

"Oh." She said, sounding a bit embarrassed now. "Well, it was really loud, so I came out here."

Caleb almost scoffed again. "Well, of course it was loud, Lena." He said, forgetting to pronounce the first syllable of her name. He was getting tired now. "It's a party."

The girl hummed slightly, sounding slightly indulgent, like Pogue had been earlier. Then Caleb felt a cool hand on his arm. She tugged gently, barely touching him, as she said, "Well, come on. Let's get you home where you can sleep this off in relative comfort."

When her hand had touched his arm, Caleb had realized that he could not see her features because his eyes had been closed. He must be far more tired than he actually felt if he hadn't even noticed that his eyes were not open. He was tempted to just keep them closed, but the pull of the comfort of his own bed, and of course the chance to see her face and decide for himself if she was pretty or not, was just too strong of a pull.

He opened his eyes with a degree of difficulty, as they were rather he\avy, and they immediately settled on her face. She was very pale, but not in an unhealthy way, more like the way of old fairy-tale princesses, always known for their creamy, milky skin. But she had a smattering of tiny freckles across her nose and cheeks as well, and a really pretty one on the left side of her chin.

Said chin was slightly square, but rounded at the edges so that it was not really noticeable, but it was definitely strong. It probably made her look menacing when she scowled. Her jaw line was beautiful, leading up to high cheekbones, she would probably have dimples if she smiled, but her face was serious now.

Her nose was the perfect size for her face, quite unlike Sarah's new boyfriend's, and it was straight, but not too pointy. It's tip turned neither up, nor did it turn down. Her lips were very… kissable, he thought. The bottom one was full, and the top was neither full, nor was it thin, but just somewhere in the middle. It seemed to work for her face, though.

Her eyebrows were shaped, but they were still very full, with not a trace of penciling that a lot of girls do after plucking them almost to death, but it was the eyes beneath them that captured his full attention. It was far too dark to see their real color, but they were dark and deep and seemed to look into his very soul. The stars in the inky sky seemed to glint in them, showing golden specks in their mysterious depths.

"Kate was right." He breathed, hardly able to speak, only this time it was not from the alcohol in his system. "You are pretty."

The girl smiled slightly and seemed to have to search for something to say. Her mouth opened for a moment, and then closed before her brows drew together prettily and she said, "Thanks, I guess. But we really should get you home." Caleb nodded, and allowed her to help him to his feet. She was very strong, though she didn't look it.

She was a little over five feet, as he remember Kate saying, but that meant that she only came up to his shoulder, and barely at that. And not only was she much shorter than he was, but she was very slight, and bony, as he remembered the feel of her legs beneath him. But she took most of his weight, as he couldn't, and did not stumble, which he found amazing.

Together, they made it slowly back up the dark stretch of beach, gowing closer to the light and noise. When they finally made it back to where they could see the crowd, Caleb pointed out the small group of four near where he had started his trek. The group was searching frantically for someone, probably him, when Kate spotted the two.

The four met them halfway, with a laughing Kate saying, "I guess you stumbled across Elena before I did."

"Quite literally." Elena said, smiling. "I believe this belongs to the three of you?" She asked the three boys, who were trying very hard not to laugh at their leader's almost entirely helpless state.

"Yes," Pogue said, his shoulders shaking. "I'm afraid he does. Would you like us to take him off your hands?" Caleb felt the girl nod under his shoulder and he was immediately handed over to Reid and Tyler.

"Are you about ready to go?" Elena asked Kate, who, in turn, nodded.

"Yes," She said, moving to stand beside Elena, but not touching her. Usually, she would have linked arms, as she did with Sarah, but she had a feeling that this girl did not really like to be touched. "I think we should let these guys get Caleb to bed, but first I'd like to introduce you. This is Pogue Parry, my boyfriend." She said, gesturing to the boy with the long brownish-blonde hair.

The two shook hands briefly, Elena smiling politely with a "How do you do," and Pogue smiling a friendly grin. "This is Reid Garwin." Again, Elena shook hands, murmuring another "How do you do." Reid, however, smiled seductively at her, and bent as much as he could with Caleb's weight to kiss her hand, which she politely withdrew.

"This is Tyler Simms." Then next introduction was made with yet another "How do you do," and polite smiles from both parties. "And I believe that you've already met Caleb Danvers." Elena nodded, but did not offer to shake Caleb's hand. He didn't feel slighted in he least, though, as he was not sure he could have found her hand had she offered it to him.

"And this is Elena…" Kate trailed off, blushing slightly as she remember that she did not know her ride's last name.

Elena smiled another sweet, polite smile, and said "Elena Belle." The boys all murmured their own versions of "Nice to meet you", and Elena said, "Well, this has been fun, but we should really get going, I still have to finish unpacking my bedclothes if I'm going to get any sleep tonight. I'm sorry to drag you away from the party, Kate." She said, looking genuinely apologetic, but Kate just shook her head.

"It wasn't as fun as it usually is, anyway." She said. "And the cops will be on their way, soon, I should think. So, please don't worry about it." Elena nodded, and smiled briefly again, before the group moved off towards the parked cars. The girls got into Elena's red 2006 Ford Focus after Kate gave Pogue a sound kiss farewell that many of the rest of the group politely looked away from.

When the girls had driven away, Pogue and Reid help Caleb into the backseat of Tyler's Hummer as Tyler started the car. Pogue sat in his customary seat next to Caleb and Reid took shotgun as the group started for Caleb's home.

"So," Reid started, turning around in his seat to look at Caleb. "What did you think of our new little Southern Belle?" He asked, grinning lasciviously.

Caleb's brow furrowed. "How do you know she's southern? She doesn't have an accent."

Pogue chuckled quietly at him. "Kate told us she's from North Caroline, man, that means she's southern."

Caleb muttered an, "Oh." Then said, "She really nice." Reid looked at him disbelievingly.

"That's it?" He said. "That's all you have to say about her? That she's 'really nice'?" Caleb, too tired to argue, or to even really think about anything, shrugged and laid his head against the door window. Reid looked to Tyler, now, for some help. "What did you think of her, Tyler?"

Tyler smiled slightly, knowing what Reid wanted him to say, but found that he couldn't really be vulgar about the sweet girl. "I think that she was really, very pretty." He said, and that was about as afar as he would go.

Reid stared, dumbfounded. "Well," He said. "If none of you will say it, then I certainly will. That girl was Fuckable with a capital F."

Pogue's brow furrowed now. "Don't be vulgar, Reid." He said, mirroring the other three's thoughts exactly. Of course they all knew that that's who Reid was, a boy who loved to be vulgar about the opposite sex, but, strangely enough, none of the other three wanted to hear about it with this girl.

Reid pouted slightly and turned back to the front so that he could watch the road, muttering under his breath.

Back in Elena's car, though, it was fairly silent. It wasn't really a comfortable silence, but then again neither was it an awkward one. Elena was debating about whether or not to ask Kate to go with her when she went shopping tomorrow. She would have liked for the friendly girl to come, but then again Elena didn't really know her, and she didn't want the girl to feel obligated or anything.

Elena sighed quietly. She was so out of practice with this. When people had first started avoiding her two years ago, she had tried to keep up her friendships with those who had wanted nothing to do with her. And after a few months of invitations and resounding 'no's', she finally gave up and hadn't asked anyone to go anywhere with her again.

She had gone clothes shopping by herself for a while, before finding that it was no fun at all, especially in her little town where everyone stopped their own shopping and stared apprehensively at every little move she made as she flipped through the items on the racks. After a while of that, though, she had stopped going to the shops and ordered all her clothes and things online.

She had stopped going to movies in the theatres, too, waiting for them to come out on DVD, as whenever she would go, the people sitting around wherever she happened to be sitting would get up and move to completely different areas of the theatre. She had even had popcorn and candy pelted at the back of her head at times by mean-spirited middle school boys, and one time it had even been a piece of chewed gum.

Now _that_ had been a traumatic experience because the boy, who had been a very good shot, had thrown it so hard into the back of her bun, that it immediately stuck so thoroughly that her mother had had to cut most of wad out, leaving her long, luscious hair, the thing that she prized most, that had once hung down to her waist, now swinging just below her ears.

It had since grown back, rather quickly, and now hung at her mid-back, but she had spent many nights crying over her shorn locks, and had refused to go to school for days.

Now, though, she decided to be brave. "Did you need to go into town tomorrow?" She asked tentatively. "Because, I was going to go around noon, if you needed a ride or anything." There, it was out and done. And it seemed like a good way to phrase it as well, she refrained from giving herself a pat on the back.

"Really?" Kate exclaimed, smiling widely at Elena. "That would be wonderful! I was going tot go with Sarah, but that would have been awful, having to hear every little detail about her date tonight for a second time!"

"A-a second time?" Elena said, startled slightly that the girl had accepted.

"I'm going to have to listen every tiny little tidbit of information tonight before she'll let me get any sleep at all." Kate explained. "I really didn't want to have to listen to it again."

Elena studied Kate out of the corner of her eye, keeping most of her attention on the winding road in front of her. "Do you not like Sarah, or something Kate?" She asked, wondering why Kate always seemed a little angry deep down when she mentioned Sarah.

Kate sighed. "It's not that I don't like her." She said. "I do, she's been my best friend here for about a year now, it just that, well…" She seemed to consider her words. "She was dating Caleb, the guy you met tonight? Until yesterday."

Elena balked a little. "Until yesterday?" She asked. "Isn't that kind of fast to be moving onto this Paul guy?"

"She's been secretly seeing him behind Caleb's back for about two months." Kate said, sighing heavily. "She was really sneaky about it, too. Playing it off like he was a pen pal that she had met when her family took a trip back up to Boston. At least, that's what she told everyone, including me, but I could tell from the way that they greeted each other today, that it's been serious for a pretty long time."

Elena sighed. "That's awful." She said. "And you dating one of Caleb's good friends, I can understand why you wouldn't really want to hear about it, or be around her for a while."

"Caleb's best friend, actually. And you're right, I don't really, not until Caleb forgives her, anyway, and that could be a very long while from now." Kate sighed, too, and Elena felt for her.

She took a deep breath, building up her courage again. "Well," She said. "If you ever need to get away, my room's just down the hall. I don't have a lot of experience with these things, but I can at least offer a good ear."

Kate smiled brightly at her. "Thanks, Elena." She said. "I'll be taking you up on that offer, I'm sure. So, noon tomorrow?" She asked, and Elena nodded, smiling. She might have just finally made her first friends in two very long, very lonely years.


	5. A New Friend?

Chapter Five: A New Friend

Chapter Five: A New Friend?

_She was standing by a pool. It was beautiful, all clear and bright turquoise. Yet it's perfection was offset by the reek of chlorine. The scent filled her nose, but she tried not to think about it. _

_She began to climb a ladder, knowing that she shouldn't be doing this, that she wasn't ready. But she felt that she had to prove it to herself, she had to prove it to _him_. She reached the top of the ladder and pulled herself up onto the springboard. _

_Taking a deep breath and staring at the wall on the far side of the pool, never down into the endless blue below her, knowing that if she did, she would panic, she felt her way to the edge of the board, feeling it sag slightly under the new weight. Then, taking another deep breath, she bit her lip, closed her eyes, and jumped off. _

_The air rushed past her as she dropped towards the water, and she made the mistake of opening her eyes just as her feet broke its smooth surface. The water was ice cold, a complete shock to her nerves, and of it's own accord, the air whooshed out of her lungs just as her head went under. _

_Her body shot toward the bottom of the pool from the momentum from the fall through the air, and everything she had learned flew out of her head. All around her, all she could see was the endless nothingness of blue. Her feet never quite touched the bottom of the twelve-foot deep end, so she had nothing to kick off of to careen her body towards the surface that seemed so far away from her. _

_She pumped her arms up and down, but the elusive surface of the water above seemed to get no closer, and there was no air in her lungs. Her wild eyes looked around for something… _anything_ that might help her, but they found nothing. She tried pumping her arms again, but still nothing seemed to be happening. _

_Suddenly, there were strong arms around her waist and her mouth opened in a silent scream as she inhaled the chlorinated water in shock. But the arms pulled her body back into a hard, muscled chest and pulled her upward towards that elusive surface that still seemed so far away. Her head broke the surface after what seemed like a lifetime, but she was too weak at this point to draw a renewing breath, though it wouldn't have mattered, as her mouth was still full of water. _

_As the arms around her tightened their grip and began to tow her to the side, her vision began to dim, and her thoughts began to slow until all she saw was a new nothingness, this time not blue, but black._

-- -- -- -- --

Elena's eyes flew open and she gasped for the air that her vision had deprived her of. Her body was soaked with sweat and her fingers clawed her sheets involuntarily. Slowly, every so slowly, her breathing calmed and her fingers unclenched painfully. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to understand her vision.

Was it Elena herself who was going to drown? Or was it someone else? Her dreams sometimes happened that way. She would be living out something in her own future in her body, but sometimes she would watch herself do things, and it would go the other way, too. She would watch someone else, or she would see their future through their eyes. This one, though, this one had to be someone else's future. She wouldn't go near a pool if her life depended on it, and she definitely wouldn't jump off one of those tall diving boards at the deep end.

Shaking her head, she got out of bed, picking up her cell phone to check the time, eleven o'clock, as she hadn't had time to unpack her alarm clock before she became too tired last night. She had, however, been able to find her towels, even if her pillow had remained elusive. She had slept on two of them last night as an uncomfortable makeshift of the missing object.

Now, she grabbed one of them, and her room key, which hung from her wrist on a red one of those springy things that she couldn't remember the name of. She also grabbed her jeans and camisole from last night, not having unpacked anything else to wear, and her sandals, before exiting and locking her room.

After showering without soap or shampoo, things she needed to buy today, she changed and headed back to her room. When she got there, she found Kate standing by her door, looking pretty in a yellow camisole and green sweater. "Good morning." Elena said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Kate smiled at her. "You didn't, I came over early. Had to get away." Elena nodded and unlocked her door, letting Kate inside first. "Wow," She said. "You really didn't get a lot of unpacking done, did you?"

Elena smiled a little and shook her head. "That's all right, though." She said, giving her long hair one last rough rub down with the towel before throwing it into the bathroom without looking. It landed in the sink perfectly and Kate let out an impressed whistle.

'Do you play basketball or something?" The girl asked.

Elena smiled sheepishly and bit her lip. "Yes." She said. "And volleyball. I have tryouts tomorrow after school for that, lacrosse and cross country." She blushed a bit, feeling like she sounded like a complete jock. "It's no big deal, though." She said.

Kate laughed at her. "Of course it's a big deal!" She said. "It's great to be able to do sports, I wish that I could. But my hand-eye coordination is next to nothing, and I don't really like running."

Elena smiled. "I guess it would be kind of hard to get into most sports then, huh?"

Kate laughed again. "Anyway," She said, sitting on Elena's unmade bed as Elena placed her shopping list in her purse. "I'll come to your tryouts tomorrow. You know, to cheer you on."

"Oh, you don't have to do that. They'll probably be very boring." Elena said, though she was secretly very pleased.

Kate chuckled. "It will be a lot more fun than hanging out by myself. Sarah's going to meet Paul somewhere halfway between here and Boston, and Pogue will have swim team practice. Though, I may not stick around for the cross-country try-out. I've heard it takes about half and hour to complete our trail."

Elena smiled. "If it's the standard three and a half mile trail, then it'll only take me about twenty-three minutes." She said. "I haven't run slow enough to make it a half hour since I was in the eighth grade."

"Twenty three minutes is fast?" Kate asked, a bit shocked.

Elena sighed. "For a girl it is." She said, sounding wistful. "Most boys only take about eighteen minutes. I've been trying, but the best I've ever gotten was twenty-one minutes, forty-eight seconds. The key is pacing yourself, which I've never been very good at."

Kate hummed slightly as an answer, then said, "Are you ready to go? Or did you want to wait a while?"

Elena shook her head. "No, I'm ready, just let me do one thing really fast." She grabbed her scrunchie off of her desk and twisted her wet hair into a high bun, securing it tightly. Then she grabbed her purse and keys, and opened the door, letting Kate out first.

They were in a little drugstore in the heart of the tiny town, and Elena was amazed that she had found just about everything on her very long list. Her cart was already full, and she still had one or two more things to hunt down before she would declare herself done.

"Have a bit of a sweet tooth, Elena?" Kate asked, laughing at the contents of the cart.

Elena bit her lip. "This is just between you and me." She said. "This is my secret stash of essenctials."

"Well," Kate said, picking up the double stuff Oreos and the Lindor truffles. "I can certainly see why they're essential. But why are they a secret? You don't have a roommate."

Elena paused to think about that. Then she nodded reluctantly. "I guess I just like to think of them as my secret stash." She said, chuckling at herself.

Kate laughed with her. "Well, don't worry, I won't tell anyone, as long as you promise to share while I help you unpack."

Elena stopped, but she couldn't help the smile that came to her face. "You don't have to-" She started, but Kate interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it." She said, knocking Elena's shoulder slightly with her own. "You know, you're going to have to stop with the whole 'you don't have to' thing with me. When I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it, and you won't be able to talk me out of it."

Elena's smile grew. "Well, thank you very much." She said. "And I'll try not to do it anymore, just bare with me."

"I know, I know." Kate said. "All that Southern politeness and everything. So, are you about ready?"

"Almost." Elena said. "I just need some ace bandages and lots of band aids." Kate gave her a questioning look. "Sports." And that seemed to explain it all.

When she had gotten the last of what she needed, and the two girls had paid, they made their way back to the dorms and, after Kate had dropped her bags off at her room, she joined Elena in the joys of unpacking.

They were about halfway through (and still had yet to find Elena's missing pillow), when a knock sounded on the door.

Shaking her head, Elena said, "It must be someone looking for you. I don't know anyone here." But she opened the door anyway, and there stood Kate's boyfriend, whose name Elena could not for the life of her remember. It wasn't Caleb, and it wasn't Tyler or Reid. It was the one with the weird name. It started with a P, maybe?

"Pogue!" Kate cried. Yes, that was it. Elena opened the door wider, and invited the boy in, apologizing about the mess.

"You're unpacking." He said. "It's understandable." He stepped over to Kate, and drew her into a hug before saying. "So, are you two coming to Nicky's tonight?"

Kate laughed. "Of course we are, but we have to finish this first, or else Elena won't have a pillow again tonight. And now I'm making you stay to help." Pogue seemed to wince slightly and Elena took pity on him.

"You don't have to, Pogue." She said, smiling politely. "Surely you must have better things to do."

Pogue seemed a bit stunned for a moment, and stared at Elena for a moment. Then he smiled brightly and said, "Actually, I don't" And he began ripping the tape off another box. Elena smiled at him again, very happy that she had already unpacked every last item of underwear before he got here.

Her happiness was thwarted, though, when Pogue cried out, "Hey! Who's this little guy?"

Elena whirled, her eyes wide, before seeing what Pogue held and blushing furiously. "Oh, that's… um… that's Lucas." She said, twisting her hands with embarrassment. Lucas was one of the two stuffed animals she had brought with her. She had gotten him two years ago when her family went on a trip down to Disney World, he had helped her to get her mind off of everything that was happening back home, and he had been by her side ever since.

He was a little Build-A-Bear sugar puppy, and he had four little outfits to his name. Right now he was dressed in his little pirate pajamas, but he also had a 'Beary Lucky' t-shirt for St. Patrick's day, a 'Knight In Shining Armor' costume for valentines day complete with helmet, banner, shield and rose, and his 'Peter Pan' outfit from Disney World.

"He's cute." Pogue said, handing him to Elena, who turned her back to the other two in the room before giving Lucas a little hug and setting him on the bed. "And this one?" Pogue asked, now holding a cute little panda bear, whose white fur had yellowed a bit with much-loved age.

"Oh, he's Panda Bear." Elena said, blushing again.

"That's it? Panda Bear?" Pogue asked.

"Well, I think I named him when I was around three or four." Elena said, stepping over to Pogue and rubbing Panda Bear's ear. "Of course, I never did get much better with names, I don't know _where_ Lucas came from. I have a horse back at home, and his name is Horse."

Pogue chuckled a bit and furrowed his brow, handing the bear to Elena. "That's kind of sad, Elena." He said, and she nodded with an "I know."

She hugged Panda Bear as well and set him next to Lucas, then went back to unpacking, glad that _all_ of the embarrassing parts were over with now.

With Pogue helping, it didn't take much longer for everything to be unpacked and in it's place, and Kate then sent Pogue off to throw away the empty boxes while the girls changed.

Elena pushed the three suitcases under her bed, thanking the lord that they fit, for there was really nowhere else to put them, before changing her shirt and putting on a touch of makeup, just a touch of brown eyeliner, and a bit of blush. She then put her chap stick, credit card, her license, and twenty in cash in her back pockets, and picked up her keys and a light jacket, making sure that it was one of the ones with pockets, and headed out the door.

She drove while Kate gave directions, and Pogue whizzed by on his bike, to a small bar that apparently catered mostly to the teens of Spenser Academy. Stepping in, she was almost overcome by the noise and proximity of other people. She only prayed that her claustrophobia was put off for at least most of the night.

Kate and Pogue led her to a table near the jukebox and the foosball table that was relatively away from the crowd around the bar, for which she was extremely grateful. There was only one person sitting there, but two other jackets hung over chairs, and Elena was just able to recognize that it was the boy, Caleb, from the night before. He shook hands with Pogue as the boy took off his leather jacket and draped it across the back of a chair.

Elena sat next to Kate, which put her across the table from Caleb as Pogue said, "Can I get you ladies anything?"

Kate told him that she would have whatever he was having, but Elena began to stand. "That's all right." She said. "I can get mine." But Pogue placed a large, but gentle hand on her shoulder.

"What can I get you?" He repeated, smiling. Apparently, he had either talked to Kate already, or they just both had the same mindsets.

Elena sat again and smiled a little, saying, "Just a coke is fine, thank you very much."

Pogue looked at her through narrowed eyes. "A coke and fries it is." He said, before disappearing too quickly for her to reply.


	6. An Apology

Chapter Six: An Apology

Chapter Six: An Apology

Caleb had seen her as soon as she had walked through the door behind Pogue and Kate. She looked even more beautiful than he had remember, which due to his drunken haze of the night before, didn't really mean much.

He was embarrassed by his behavior last night, and he meant to apologize to her, but as she sat down across from him with a small, sweet smile, he found that he couldn't find the right words. He shook himself slightly as Pogue greeted him, and shook his best friend's hand.

Pogue asked the girls if they wanted anything to eat, and Kate gave her customary answer while Elena, apparently determined not to pester anyone, said that she would be more than happy to get it herself. Caleb watched the conversation with interest, and couldn't help but chuckle along with Kate when Pogue took it upon himself to make sure that the girl did not conveniently decide later that she wanted something.

She had a cute look of amused consternation as Pogue disappeared towards the bar, but she was not allowed to linger long, as Kate immediately pulled her into a conversation about the classes that she would be taking, and the sports that she would be participating in.

Not really able to get a word in edgewise yet, Caleb simply watched and listened to the girls, never really noticing as Reid and Tyler came sauntering back to the group from the pool tables.

"I thought I saw too beauties come in with a beast." Reid said, coming behind the girls and placing his hands on the backs of their chairs. "I'm glad the beast is gone so that perhaps the _real_ prince could win the day."

"Do you mean Tyler?" Kate asked, chuckling as Reid pouted.

"Hmm." He said. "Well, maybe there's only one available beauty tonight, I see the beast has got you completely under his spell." He slid into the chair on Elena's opposite side as he said, "But that's all right, there's still a Belle to fight for."

Elena, blushing furiously, couldn't help but chuckle as she asked, "Do you always talk like this?"

Reid shrugged. "Only when there are beautiful ladies around." Elena nodded slightly, looking concerned. Tyler sat in his own jacket-draped chair as Pogue sauntered back to the table, precariously balancing the drinks and trays in his hands.

He sat down and handed off one of the cokes and the basket of fries to Elena, who took them with a blushing, "Thank you" as he said, "Are you harassing Elena, Reid?"

"Me?" Reid exclaimed, his hand catching his heart. "Harass Belle? Never! I'm merely proclaiming my unwavering affection for her." Elena seemed like she wanted to say something in retort, but she merely pushed a fry into her mouth instead.

"Affection my ass." Pogue said, and Kate nearly snorted her coke.

Reid hummed in thought before turning his full attention back to Elena. "Would you like to play some pool?" He asked her.

Her eyes widened and she swallowed with seeming difficulty. "I-I'm not very good at it." She said, shaking her head slightly for emphasis.

Reid grinned. "All the better." He said. "I can help you."

Elena's blush deepened as she got his meaning, the whole table got his meaning and Caleb and Pogue weren't entirely sure they liked his tone. "Thank you." Elena said, her tone embarrassed but polite. "But I really don't think you could, I'm quite hopeless."

"Doubtful." Reid said, but gave up, a rarity for him.

"Do you play foosball?" Pogue asked, only to have Elena look slightly embarrassed again.

"I've never tried." She said. "Which is a bit pitiful, since I do play soccer." She stopped for a moment, looking concerned. "That is what foosball is, right?" She asked.

Pogue chuckled. "Yes." He said. Then he stood. "Come on, I'll teach you."

Elena balked slightly. "Now?" She asked.

Pogue held his hand out to her, an innocent invitation. "Why not now?" He asked, smiling down at her. Elena swallowed before taking a deep breath and accepting his proffered hand. "Caleb will help, won't you, Caleb?" He said, his tone leaving no room for argument, which Caleb wouldn't have anyway.

Pogue and Elena stood on one side of the table, and Caleb stood on the other, grabbing the little soccer ball from its slot. "It's really easy, see Elena?" Pogue said as he gripped the bars on the right of Elena. She gripped her own, mimicking him. "All right, now when Caleb drops the ball in, you move the players sideways to try and block the ball, and then you spins the handles so that the players kick the ball towards his goal, which is that one. I'll defend our goal, all right?"

Elena's tongue came out between her teeth in concentration, as she nodded, latching her eyes onto the ball in Caleb's fingers. "Do you want to go slow the first time?" He asked, his eyes searching for hers. They flew to his and mesmerized him for a second time. And, now that he saw their true color, they were even more wonderful than he remembered.

They were mostly a caramel brown with actually quite large patches of green worked into them, and flecked with tiny golden flecks that caught the dim lights of the bar. They were by far and away the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Even Sarah's deep blue's had not captivated him this much.

But their beauty was not the only thing that drew him into their depths. There was a deep sadness lying somewhere deep in their, and, even more, not disturbing exactly, but _something_, that made him think that she knew things that no one else did, that maybe no one else _could._

He shook himself, though, as he heard her quiet voice say, "Yes, please." Then he nodded and dropped the ball into the middle of the table's 'field'. He did not have a chance to look up at her again, as her players immediately caught the ball and she sent it flying towards his goal, where he only just managed to catch it in time.

The game seemed never-ending, as the three players got faster and faster with every near-goal, until finally, Elena sunk the ball into Caleb's goal so fast that it flew straight past his goalie. Caleb looked back up at her grinning face with an eyebrow raised.

"I thought you said that you had never played this before?" He said, his voice suspicious but amused.

Elena's eyes widened. "I haven't." She said. "I just have pretty good hand-eye coordination." She blushed prettily and bit her lip. "Want to play again?" She asked.

Caleb nodded, and Pogue laughed. "Well, now that you've got the gist of it," He said. "I think I'll go back to Kate." Caleb knocked fists with Pogue as the boy threw him a look that he didn't quite understand and moved back to their table.

Elena dropped the ball back onto the table and the two resumed play, though this time it was a bit slower. Caleb thought that this would be as good a time as ever to apologize for his behavior last night, as it was probably the only part of the evening that he would find himself alone with her.

He took a deep breath before deciding to just come right out with it. "I – uh – I wanted to apologize for last night." He said, his attention focused on the ball that he just kicked towards her goal.

She blocked his shot with ease before saying "It's not a problem, Caleb."

But the boy shook his head. "No, I… I just wanted you to understand that I don't normally do that. You know... get…" He trailed off, barely blocking her shot to his goal.

"A little overly tipsy?" She said, putting it gently.

"Completely wasted." He corrected, deciding not to allow his slip in judgment to be taken lightly. "I was just… There were a lot of things going on last night that I… Well I guess that I just didn't want to deal with them." He shot the ball down the field again.

"Please, don't worry about it." Elena said, stopping his shot and not moving the ball, completely stopping the game. Caleb looked up to see that her eyes were searching his.

But he shook his head again. "I don't usually drink at all." He said, removing his hands from his poles and gripping the edge of the table lightly. "I know what it can do to your system, especially on an empty stomach. But I just did it anyway."

"Caleb." She said, her hand hesitantly coming across the table to touch his with her fingertips. "Kate told me what happened with this Sarah girl, so I understand what you were going through last night, and I don't blame you for not wanting to think about it. It seems as if it was a one time thing and you didn't hurt anybody or anything, so I don't see what the big deal is."

"I didn't hurt you?" He said, a bit confused. "But, I fell on you, didn't I?"

Elena smiled indulgently, withdrawing her fingers. "I play a lot of sports, Caleb, in most of which people collide with each other and sometimes knock each other down on purpose. Trust me, I can handle a couple of bruised shins."

Caleb grimaced slightly. "Well, I am sorry about those." He said, hating to think that he had caused her even the slightest pain. But then he shook himself again and smiled at her. "But maybe _you_ should think about trying some sports that don't have so much contact." His smile grew. "Like the girl's swim team. They could always use a few new swimmers."

He could swear she shuddered, and his eyebrows drew together in curiosity. Her eyes removed themselves from his and she put the tiny soccer ball back into play. "What's wrong?" Caleb asked, immediately beginning to play again, too.

Elena shook her head slightly. "I don't swim." She said, her full attention on the game now.

"Why not?" Caleb asked, curious. He had seen the flash of fear and even a bit of pain in her eyes when he had mentioned it, and hated to think that he had hurt her again.

"I can't." She admitted, sinking the ball into his goal as his hands lay motionless on his poles.


	7. Dancing

Chapter Seven: Dancing

Chapter Seven: Dancing

Elena could not believe that this had come up in conversation. Her inability to swim had always been something that she was ashamed of, especially after the incident at the end of last year.

She had, of course, grew up in a small town in North Carolina, and the town had only had two pools. The one in Edmondson Academy that was for the High School's use only, and the public one, which had always been closed due to parent's not teaching their children proper pool/bathroom etiquette. (Meaning that even if it had been open, her parents still would not have let her swim there) So she just never felt the need to learn it.

Even when she had gotten into Edmondson, she hadn't really ever felt the need to learn, as the swim team had never appealed to her. She prized her athletic skills on fancy footwork and great hand-eye coordination, and swimming never seemed to have that much skill involved, only great muscles, and she had never found bulky shoulders particularly attractive on the female gender.

And that was where the public story ended here in Ipswich, and even that embarrassment had been something that she had been hoping to avoid, at least for a few more weeks. It was just her luck that the first group of people that she had met here were all, excluding Kate, swim team stars.

The private story, which had been the main reason of her lonely move here to Spenser Academy, was much more horrific, and something that she was not willing to share with anyone. Not only was it an embarrassing sob story, had she told it there would have been far too many questions on why exactly it had happened, and since it just so happened to have everything to do with her 'condition', she was adamant that she would never divulge the information.

It had been the second-to-last week of school, and all of the seniors were excited and getting ready to leave high school behind them, and the juniors were more than ready to become seniors, and the sophomores and freshmen were just plain happy that the year was coming to a close at last. There had been one last all-grade-level event that Wednesday afternoon, and it just so happened to be a fundraiser for the finest swim team in all of western North Carolina.

Elena had volunteered at the beginning of junior year to be a Junior Marshall, usually something reserved for the student council hopefuls. She had no dreams of being on said student council, for she knew that no one, whether they were in their right mind or not, would vote for her, but she wanted to do all the extra-curricular activities that she could so that, when the time came to go to college, she could get as far away from Murphy, North Carolina as she could possibly get.

So, she was reluctantly put in charge of keeping the section of rowdy high school students right next to the swimmer's bench in check. She had never really liked the smell of chlorine, and it had been all around her that day, beginning to give her a headache, although that may have had something to do with the reverberations screams and cheers throughout the building.

She had been so relieved when the fundraiser was finally over, as her head had begun to pound almost to the point of being incapacitation, that she had taken absolutely no notice of the rowdy group of swimmers near her, whose coach had wandered off to speak with the principle.

One minute, she had been standing near the stands, dutifully watching the students as they began to ready themselves to leave for the day, and the next thing she knew, she was being hoisted into the air by six very strong senior members of the boy's swim team. The captain of the team, a senior who, like those who had hold of her, had nothing to lose, had jumped up onto on of the starting boards and shouted over the crowd, "We've all learned about the Salem Witch Trials, right? Well, why don't we test them out?"

And to Elena's horror, the cheers of the other students in the building had erupted deafeningly, and, with nothing to stop them, no teachers, no repercussions, nothing, the boys had thrown her, screaming, into the deep end of the pool.

She had inhaled water almost immediately, and had sunk just as fast. But she had kicked and flailed around in the depths trying in vain to get back to the precious air that she so desperately craved.

She had blacked out not long after, and the women's swim coach had dove in, pulling her out and giving her mouth to mouth, but Elena had vowed that day never to go anywhere near a pool again so long as she lived.

Her parents had decided not long after that, for her own safety, since everyone feared more violence on Elena's person, that she would be transferred out of state, and Spenser had been the first that had said that they would take her.

And so here Elena was, and she was not about to let anything like that happen again, and so she would tell no one anything about her previous high school experiences, other than sports, drama, and classes. Which was why she hated being confronted with this situation so soon after arriving here, without having at least a few days to acclimate herself to the new feeling of near-acceptance.

And the way Caleb was looking at her let her know that he knew something was not right when she had hurriedly given him her explanation of why she could not swim. She was so sure that dreaded questions were about to come out of his somewhat-shocked lips, but he seemed to shake himself before smiling brilliantly at her.

He really was quite handsome, certainly one of the most handsome boys that she had ever met. And he was friendly, too, which was even more of a rarity, for her at least. His face was a bit angular, but in kind of a soft way, a nice way. His chin was round with a nice dimple in the middle that was even more prominent when he smiled.

His lips were full, and often serious she supposed, but when he smiled they opened to show beautifully straight, white teeth. His eyes, which she saw now were brown, were just as deep as she had thought them to be last night, and they crinkled up merrily when he did smile.

And, boy, was he muscular. His wife beater showed off the prominence of his shoulders and biceps, which she had felt a bit of last night. They had bunched and strained a bit when they had been playing foosball, and she had had to fight to wrench her eyes away from their perfection once or twice during the game.

'How could Sarah ever let this go?' She thought, and then fought to hide the sudden blush that flamed upon her cheeks.

"There's no need to be embarrassed about not being able to swim, Lena." Caleb said, again not pronouncing the first syllable of her name. His eyes looked into hers sympathetically, and her lips began to curl into a smile despite herself when he said something that she had dreaded even more than questions about her past.

"I could teach you, if you'd like." He offered, smiling softly. Elena felt her eyes widen in alarm, and the blood rush from her head to her feet.

Weakly, she shook her head. "N-no." She said, a bit breathlessly. "I'm fine, but t-thank you." Ever the polite southerner, she fought to smile up at him as her heart pounded painfully with fear.

Caleb, seeming concerned, but willing to let it go, said, "All right. If you ever change your mind, though…" He trailed off and Elena nodded, knowing that she would never change her mind. Even looking at a pool now sent her into convulsions, and she didn't want anyone to have to see that.

"Thank you." She said, taking deep breaths and regaining her composure.

Caleb nodded and smiled down at her. "Want to play another?" He asked.

Elena bit her lip. "Could we wait a little while? I'm beginning to get a bit thirsty." She said, smiling apologetically. Caleb nodded and the two joined the others at the table.

"So, did you beat him again?" Pogue asked, shooting Caleb an indiscernible look.

"Kicked the crap out of me." Caleb said, smiling at her from his seat across from her. Elena blushed softly and searched for her cup, finding it sitting empty in from of Reid, who shrugged, smiling.

She narrowed her eyes and smirked at him before moving to get up again. "Don't worry." Caleb said, beating her to it. "I'll get you another you."

"Oh, no, please, you really don't have to-" But he, too, disappeared before she could finish. She sat back down with a slight sigh and Kate laughed at her.

"You're just going to have to get used to it." She said. "Because these three will do it all the time. Reid, on the other hand, won't lift a finger."

"Not true." Reid said, scandalized, rubbing his glove-encased hands together. "I would have offered if our fearless leader hadn't beaten me to it." The blonde mock-glared at Caleb, who had come back and set a new coke down in front of Elena.

She thanked him with a smile before asking, "Fearless leader? Of what?"

The table was silent for a moment as all eyes shot to Reid. Elena could read slight panic in each of their gazes before Kate quickly said, "The swim team. Caleb's the Captain, one of the best freestyles you will ever see. And of course, Pogue does the butterfly, Tyler the backstroke, and Reid does the breaststroke."

Elena nodded, wondering at the group's slightly suspicious panic, and not wanting to picture the pool's menacing waters. Uncomfortable, she took a long sip from her coke, and watched the ice and bubbles in it.

Caleb seemed to notice her discomfort, because he leaned across the table to her and said, "Would you like to dance?" Startled, she choked as she inhaled the bubbly drink, and immediately grabbed her nose in pain, coughing too hard to speak.

Reid laughed as he patted her back, not too hard, but none too gently either. "I think that was a 'no', man." He said, keeping his hand on Elena's back as she caught her breath. She gave a little sound of pain as the caffeinated drink burned her nose and made her eyes tear.

"Are you all right?" Tyler asked, passing her a napkin, which she gratefully accepted.

She wiped her nose and sniffled a bit as she said, "Yes, thank you, but I don't recommend anyone doing that. It's rather painful." She rubbed her nose a few more times, trying to put it back to normal.

"I'm sorry." Caleb said. Elena looked at him, he was smiling amusedly at her, but his voice was sincere. "Now that you're not drinking anything harmful, _would_ you like to dance?"

Again, Elena could feel an embarrassed blush staining her cheeks, and was beginning to feel rather annoyed with herself. "I'm afraid that I'm not very good at dancing either." She said, toying with the two straws in her drink. She hadn't been to a dance since her freshman year, and the most dancing she had done since then was in her room, door locked, music blasting, and with a hairbrush in her hand.

"Well," Caleb said, smiling. "If you aren't good at dancing like you aren't good at Foosball, then you should be pretty good." He got up and walked to the jukebox. A few moments later, she recognized the first sounds of 'Hot Blooded' from Foreigner coming across the speakers, but she dared not turn around.

But Reid, apparently, would have none of it. His foot came around and pushed the back leg of her chair around so the she faced him, giving Caleb a better chance to grab her hand and pull her up from her chair. Reid chuckled at her grimace, waggling his fingers and saying, "Have fun, Belle!"

Of course, Caleb drew her straight to the middle of the dance floor. He took her other hands in his and laughed. "It's not that bad, Lena, I promise! You look like you're in pain." Elena tried to smile as she bit her lip and bobbed to the music. Caleb moved her hands back and forth and she matched her hips with her arms.

"That's it." Caleb said, bringing her arms up over her head, then letting one hand go and spinning her around. She almost lost her balance, laughing, and had to steady her hand on his muscular arm, as his hand immediately moved to steady her waist, and suddenly, the music changed from the fast, fun strains of 'Hot Blooded' to the much slower rhythm of 'Far Away' from Nickleback.

Elena's eyes flew to the jukebox and caught the devious, laughing eyes of Pogue and Kate. Then they flew back to Caleb. She began to step back and away from him, planning to go back to the table and finish her coke, but his hand tightened slightly on her waist and he brought her other hand down near his chest. He smiled down at her saying, "This is pretty good, too."

Elena, looking into his smiling eyes, could only nod in agreement. But, after a few moments, the intensity in those eyes began to make her a bit uncomfortable, and she looked away, her eyes finding Kate dancing very close to Pogue. She couldn't help but smile as she saw the girl's pleased face resting on the boy's shoulder, and his finger's playing in the ends of the girl's long hair.

"They look good together." She said, trying to divert Caleb's attention from her. It seemed to work, thank goodness, and he looked over at his best friend with a wide smile.

"You'd never think to look at them that they were having a few problems a while back." He said, chuckling at the memory.

"Were they, really?" Elena asked, glad that they were not so silent anymore, and she chanced a glance up at him. His eyes weren't so intense anymore, and for that she was grateful.

"There was a new guy at school that Kate was trying to befriend, and Pogue got a bit, well, a lot, jealous." Caleb explained.

Elena nodded. "He seems like the type that would." She said. "What happened then?"

"Well, she got really sick, and had to be hospitalized." Caleb said. "Pogue was rushing to get to her when he found out what had happened that his bike was crashed, so he ended up in the hospital, too."

Elena was stunned. "That's horrible." She said, looking at the happy couple sympathetically.

"It was pretty scary." Caleb said, his eyes growing darker at the memory. "But it turned out all right in the end. Kate woke up and Pogue explained everything to her, and they haven't fought since."

"Well, I'm glad that they're all right." Elena said, shuddering at the thought of a loved one in a hospital and being unable to help them. "And that they're relationship is better now."

"Yeah." Caleb said, his voice sounding a bit strained. Elena glanced up at him again, and found that he was once again staring intensely down at her. Elena looked down again and studied her hand on his arm until the song was over, then she took it off his arm rather quickly, but he was reluctant to let go of her hand, though his hand slipped off her hip when she stepped back.

She swallowed, and shot a quick glance up at him. "Um…" She said. "I'm getting a bit tired, and I have a lot of tryouts to do tomorrow. I should probably head back to the dorms." Caleb cleared his throat and seemed to shake himself again.

"Right." He said. "Okay, well. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Elena nodded and when she chanced another glance up at him, he was no longer looking at her so strangely, he just seemed a bit flustered. He let her hand go and she thanked his for the dance as she made her way over to the table, where Kate and Pogue had gone back to already.

"I'm going to head back, Kate. I need to get a lot of sleep. Did you need me to give you a ride again, or did you want to ride with Pogue?" Elena asked, feeling Caleb behind her.

Kate laughed. "I'll ride with you." She said. "I was starting to get tired, too." She stood after giving Pogue a sweet kiss. "We'll see you boys tomorrow, all right?"

The boys all gave their own goodbyes, and Pogue told Kate to call him when she had gotten home. Elena murmured her farewell, not looking at Caleb, and dug her keys out of her pocket as Kate led her to the door.


	8. Discussions

Chapter Eight: Discussions

Chapter Eight: Discussions

Reid was apparently trying, unsuccessfully, to laugh. "I don't think she likes you, Caleb." He said, staring after the girls. Caleb stared at the table as he sat down once again.

"Well," Tyler said. "You have to admit that he _was_ staring at her pretty hard. Anyone might have been uncomfortable."

"Was I really?" Caleb asked, surprised and a bit ashamed. "I didn't even know that I was doing it."

Pogue's hand went to his shoulder. "I didn't see it, but I don't think that it's just you." He said, snagging a few of Elena's abandoned fries. "She doesn't really seem comfortable with anyone, not even Kate."

"Yes," Reid said, smiling wickedly. "It seems that Belle's comfort zone has never been breached before, and our fearless leader here just overstepped a few too many boundaries."

Caleb looked up now and hissed at Reid. "Well, what about you, Reid?" He said.

Reid stared at him in confusion. "Me? What did I do?" He exclaimed.

"With the whole 'fearless leader' quip earlier? I never would have had to ask her to dance if you hadn't have let that little slip out. God, do you just not _think_ anymore?" Caleb's eyes were narrowed in anger as he glared at the boy who had always pushed the limits of the Covenant's secrecy.

Reid's eyes narrowed as well. "Well, I'm so sorry." He said, his own voice angry. "But ever since you and Pogue decided to tell our little 'secret' to Sarah and Kate, I've grown a bit more comfortable in what I say around them, and since you apparently have decided that Belle's going to be your rebound girl, I guess I must have just figured that I might as well get comfortable with her, too."

Caleb, reeling from Reid's assumption that he was thinking of Elena romantically, much less as a rebound, could only fluster, "Why the hell do you keep calling her by her last name?"

Reid seemed perfectly comfortable with this new line of questioning, gloating over his point about Caleb's interest in the girl. "Because she looks like Belle." The table just stared at him. "You know," He said. "From Beauty and the Beast?"

Tyler nodded a little. "I can kind of see it." He said.

Reid looked to Caleb and Pogue. "Remember," He said. "We watched it in French class Sophomore year, and in that ballroom scene. The girl had her hair in that really cool ponytail thing?" Pogue and Caleb nodded, each barely remembering the girly movie.

"Well, you may not have noticed it." He said, looking pointedly at Caleb. "But last night, her hair had, I guess, fallen out of it's bun and it looked like that ponytail thing from the movie. You know, all draped over her shoulder and everything? That, combined with the big brown eyes, and seeing as how her last name fits, it's just how I think of her."

Caleb shook his head. "Her eyes are hazel." He said, remembering their pained beauty.

Reid stared at him, disbelieving. "They're definitely brown." He argued. "There's not one trace of green in them."

"How-" Caleb started, but Pogue interrupted him.

"You're both wrong." He said. "I've been with that girl nearly all day today, and it's safe to say that her eyes are green. Definitely just green."

The other two boys, adamant about what they each had seen, began to argue when Tyler, as usual, stepped in. "There's a logical solution to this." He said, and the other three turned to him, questions in their eyes.

"Her eyes must be hazel." He started. "_But_," He interrupted Caleb's triumphant air-punch. "They probably turn different shades, or one color gets more prominent in different lighting. Like, inside and at night, they're more brown or more both colors."

"Three colors." Caleb corrected, remembering their elusive golden flecks.

"And then outside and in the sunlight, they're more green." Tyler finished, apparently satisfied with his logic.

"What color do you see?" Pogue asked, apparently not as satisfied.

And now Tyler faltered a bit. "A really light brown, almost gold." He said. "Like-" He thought a moment. "Like honey in sunlight." He finished.

"Wow." Reid said, staring amusedly at his friend. "You really are one for the metaphors, aren't you?"

Tyler punched his arm as Pogue, his brow slightly furrowed, said, " What I don't get, though, if we're following Ty's explanation, is why they were just as green to me in here, where there's barely any light at all, as they were this afternoon in her room, which, granted, wasn't completely full of sunlight, but it definitely wasn't this dark."

"Yeah." Reid said, looking at Tyler smugly. "And her eyes just as chocolate a brown to me in here as they were standing right next to that fire last night."

"Well, I don't know!" Tyler exclaimed, shrugging his shoulders defensively. "Some peoples eyes just change colors, I guess, and her eyes do. Maybe they were still green to Pogue because she has to look up at him, and we're sitting underneath a lamp, and they're still brown to Reid because she never really looks him straight in the eyes."

"This is pointless." Caleb said, ending the argument. "Her eyes change colors, we've determined that. It doesn't really matter, they're pretty any way you look at them."

The table was silent for a moment until Reid, as usual, said, "So, about you freaking her out…"

Caleb sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes. "What about it?" He said, really not wanting to think about how she had avoided his eyes so avidly.

"I think you may have scared her." Tyler said, his voice concerned. "I get the feeling she's not used to people, and you were coming on pretty strong."

"I didn't mean to!" Caleb exclaimed as Pogue laughed.

"We'll add Caleb to her list." He said.

Reid looked at him, his eyes interested. "What list?" He asked, snagging some more of her fries.

"The list of things she's scared of." Pogue said. "Kate somehow got it out of her today while we were helping her unpack." He began ticking off his fingers. "Bees, spiders, snakes, scorpions, and sharks." He said. "And now we can add Caleb." He laughed again.

"And the water." Caleb muttered, and the table quieted again.

Then Reid burst out with, "She can't be afraid of water, she's smells too good."

Caleb glared at him. "I didn't mean it like that." He said. "She told me that she can't swim, and when I offered to teach her, she panicked."

Reid let out an "Ooh" when Caleb said he'd offered to teach her, but Tyler simply nodded. "I can understand if she panicked." He said, and again the table's eyes flew to him. "My mom can't swim either." He explained. "She's terrified of the water."

"How can an adult be afraid of swimming?" Reid asked. "I mean, I can understand a little kid, because they don't know any better, but and adult? I mean, they probably have seen hundreds of people swim, they can't think that it would be too difficult to learn if they just jumped in, right? Just pump your arms and kick, that's really all there is to it."

But Tyler shook his head. "Elena probably had an experience like my mom did." He said. "She was about five or six and she was over at a bar-b-q at her grandparent's. She hadn't learned how to swim yet, and so she wouldn't go anywhere near the pool with the other kids."

Tyler sighed. "The jist is that one of her uncles was drunk and was tired of her whimpering about how she didn't want to be near the pool, so he picked her up and threw her in, probably thinking, like Reid, that she _would_ just automatically kick and be able to keep her head above water, and she couldn't. She hasn't gone anywhere near a pool since."

"That's awful." Pogue said, echoing Caleb's thoughts exactly. "No wonder she'd be afraid of swimming." The other three nodded in agreement and the table was silent once again. Then Reid opened his mouth to say something, an evil look on his face.

Caleb sighed again and beat him to it. "Don't Reid." He said, and the boy tried to profess his innocence. "No matter what you think, I don't think of Elena as a rebound from Sarah. I'm not even sure that I think about her in _that way_ at all. Yes, she's very pretty, and she's very sweet, but I just don't think that I'm ready for there to be someone else just yet."

Reid started again. "But you were staring at her like you wanted to rip her clothes off, man! I mean, not that I blame you, but-"

Caleb slammed his palm down on the table, rattling the glasses, his eyes turning black. "I didn't realize that I was staring at her, and if you _ever_ say something like that again-" He stopped, his brows drawing together in confusion, and sat back, his eyes going back to their normal brown. "I'm sorry, Reid." He said, swallowing and shaking his head. "I don't know what came over me. I must still be tired from this hangover thing."

Reid nodded and smiled at the older boy. "Don't worry about it man." He said, and then he turned to Tyler. "Wanna take some more money from Abbot?" He asked. The youngest of the group agreed and soon the two had left the older boys, headed for the pool tables.

Pogue was looking at Caleb concernedly. "Maybe you should go home and get some more sleep, Caleb." He said. "You look pretty beat."

Caleb nodded. "I didn't get much sleep last night." He said. "I kep having these strange dreams."

"How strange?" Pogue asked, concerned. He remembered the ones that they had all had when Chase had come here. None of the four were convinced that their fifth was gone for good, especially since his body had never been recovered, and they were all on the lookout for anything strange.

But Caleb shook his head. "I don't think they had anything to do with Chase." He said. "It was just flashes of really random things. None of it seemed to fit together, and yet I got the feeling that, somehow, they did."

"What things?" Pogue asked, interested, but a bit relieved.

Caleb thought back to the flashes of the night before. "There was an empty pool." He said. "But it wasn't the one at school. There was a pyramid of cheerleaders that was missing its top girl. There was a trophy, a scarf, a basket full of candy, and an empty cup. And then there was a car that had crashed into a tree." Caleb hadn't been able to make any sense of the flashes last night, and now they made even less sense.

Apparently Pogue could find no connections either. "You have really weird dreams, man." He said. "But, come on. Let's head home. We do, unfortunately, have school tomorrow." Caleb nodded and the two left the table, waving quick farewells to Tyler and Pogue, who were shamelessly taking all of Aaron Abbot's cash.


	9. Classes

Chapter Nine: Class Discussion

Chapter Nine: Classes

Elena struggled with her tie as she hurried to her first class. She had learned late last night, after Kate had finally left her room, that her Government class was shared by Kate and the 'Sons', as the people around here called the group of four boys she had become acquainted with.

She had gotten her schedule the day she had moved into her dorm room, accompanied by two sets of uniforms. Now, having attended Edmondson Academy, she was used to school uniforms, but it didn't mean that she liked them. This was due, mostly, to the fact that she hated wearing skirts, and this length of these, or lack there of she should say, left a lot to be desired.

She did like that the ties were red, her favorite color, because it gave something to the drab blues and grays of the rest of the uniform. Her shoes were the same square-toed black flats that she had been wearing since the seventh grade, and were in desperate need of shining, and she was pretty sure that even that wouldn't have helped them any.

She had taken on a very hectic course schedule, including three social studies courses, three language arts courses, two sciences, two mathematics, two physical education classes in addition to her after school sports, one elective, and one foreign language in addition to French Club. Like all the other seniors, she had the mandatory government on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. She also had chosen European History on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Macroeconomics on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

As for her language arts courses she had British Literature on Mondays and Thursdays, American Literature on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and her elective Language Arts was Writing on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her science courses were Microbiology on Mondays and Fridays and Philosophy on Wednesdays, because she wasn't going anywhere near any classes where she would be required to dissect things, which always had her running from the room.

For mathematics, she had Trigonometry on Mondays and Thursdays because she had failed it her first time through last year, but since she had passed pre-calculus, having no idea how she'd done it, she had Statistics on Tuesdays and Fridays. These scared her because math was most definitely _not_ one of her strong points. Actually, it wasn't a weak point either, it didn't even register as an actual _point_ she was so horrible at it. But to brighten her spirits, she had taken on a Yoga class on Mondays and Thursdays, and a Ballet class, which she shared with Kate, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

She also shared her one elective study class, Chorus, with Kate on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and she was taking Latin as her foreign language on Mondays and Thursdays.

So, today she had to get through Government, Trigonometry, British Literature, and Latin. Then she had an hour for lunch and then her hour break of the day before Microbiology and Yoga. And then she would end the day with her tryouts in three sports.

Right now, though, she studied the school map in her hands as she searched for the right History room. Believing she had found it, she stepped in, praying that she was right. When she saw Pogue and Kate sitting near the middle of the arena-type seats, what she felt must have been a hectic look on her face melt into a relieved smile.

She waved at the couple before taking a seat on the end of the front middle row, pulling out her book and notepad, and flipped her long braid, which had fallen over her shoulder, back to it's proper place on her back. She had learned long ago that on days when you would be exercising, it was best to not even try to deal with a heavy bun, as it would just cause undue frustration when it fell out.

She did not have long to wait before Tyler came in, giving her a nod and a smile before climbing the stairs to a seat of his choosing somewhere. Reid, who looked as if he really did not want to be out of bed, thank you very much, followed him soon after. He moved wordlessly and zombie-like through the room, but he patted her shoulder on his way by, supposedly going to sit near Tyler.

Then Caleb came in, looking very handsome in his uniform, his bag in his hand. His eyes immediately met hers and his smile had a tone of embarrassment. Her dream had begun last night with that same smile so, knowing the inevitable, she smiled softly at him and gestured slightly to the seat next to her.

He was surprised, but he nodded, waved to the upper rows briefly, and came around behind her to take the empty chair on her right. He took his book and journal out of his bag with one hand as he set the bag down with the other, and sat facing her slightly.

He visibly swallowed and said, "Good morning." She nodded back with the same greeting, not looking at him, but heading her paper. She heard him take a deep breath. "Listen," He said. "About my behavior last night, I wanted to apologize." He turned away from her slightly and ran a hand through his perfect hair. "I really have no idea what came over me." He said. "And I know that's been my excuse both times I've had to apologize to you, but it's the only explanation I have."

Elena had been silent. She had heard this little speech before, last night, and knew that he had needed to get it out, but now she said, "It's all right, Caleb. You don't have to apologize. I know things must still be painful for you, and maybe if I hadn't just met you, I wouldn't have been so bothered by it."

She looked up into his deep brown eyes and smiled sweetly. "Don't worry about it." She said. "It's over and done with." His eyes searched hers for a moment before he, too, smiled and nodded, turning to look front as the teacher came into the room and shut the door.

She gave him her full attention as he began talking about the syllabus that he was beginning to pass out, and about the course in general. When she got her stack of papers, she took one and passed it to Caleb without looking at him, her attention now on the paper. It was a fairly simple course, just lots of memorization, and it was only a half-year course, so she could take something in it's place next semester, but that was far too long down the line for her to worry about now.

She had uncapped her pen and was proceeding to put little stars next to the important dates on the syllabus when a tiny piece of torn paper landed in the middle of the page. _Give me your schedule –C_ it read, and she glanced at Caleb from the corner of her eye. Sighing inwardly, she pulled it from inside her notebook and slid it towards him when the teacher was writing on the blackboard.

A few moments later, she was copying the teacher's words onto paper when her schedule was slid back to her, only now it had a piece of torn paper on top of it. _We have the same break today. And we share Statistics and Euro. Hist. tomorrow, but other than Gov., Stats., and Euro. Hist. we don't have anything else together. I chose Russian and French Lit. not British and American._

She began to giggle, but stifled it quickly. She saw Caleb look curiously at her from the corner of his eye, then he ripped another page from his journal, wrote on it for a moment, then slid it to her. _What's so funny?_ It read, and her pen flew across the page in turn.

_Russian Literature._ She wrote. _Do you know what one of the books you have to read in that class is?_ He read her words over her shoulder and she could see him shake his head, a question in his eyes. _War and Peace_. She wrote, and that was all it took for his eyes to get a bit bigger in surprise and horror. She giggled again, this time silently, and added _Good luck!_

Caleb sat there stunned for a moment and, glad for the reprieve in the written conversation, she hurriedly caught her notes back up from the board. Somewhere in the middle of her furious catch-up, the note under her elbow was pulled away, and when she was finished writing her notes, it was slid back to her with a new line of Caleb's neat handwriting.

_I heard you and Kate talking last night about your tryouts today, and I wanted to wish you good luck. If the boys and I didn't have swim practice, we'd come and cheer you on._ Elena smiled and wrote, _It's the thought that counts, thanks._ And pushed it back to him.

_Wow, three sports?_ He wrote. _How do you manage it?_ She shrugged and replied, _Well, I've never done three at once before, but I've played so many sports, and I've done volleyball and cross country for so long, I figured it was time to add something new to the mix, just to see if I can do it._

_So, volleyball, cross country, and lacrosse, then basketball, and then soccer and long distance track. Is there anything you can't do?_ At this Elena just shot him an embarrassed look, and he quickly added _Besides that._

Elena thought a moment, then wrote, _Well, strange as it may seem, I can't hit a ball with a racquet or a bat, so tennis and softball are out._

_What else do you do after school, besides sports, I thought I heard you mention some kind of club to Kate?_ Elena chuckled inwardly. The boy had a good attention span and a good memory.

_French club and Drama club._ She wrote, and Caleb replied with _Busy girl, where are you going to find the time for all of us?_ That threw her a little. She had never had to make time for friends until now. She liked the idea of it, but thinking of her busy schedule, she wondered how in the world she would be able to do it. _Maybe I'll drop French club._ She wrote.

Caleb chuckled, but replied, _I don't think that will be necessary. Don't worry. There'll be plenty of time to hang out. Starting with lunch and breaks today. Do you want to eat on campus or off?_

_What do you suggest? Is the food here any good?_ She wrote.

Caleb nodded. _It is, but you'll be eating it for the next year._

She chuckled silently. _I guess I should probably give it a try, then._

She could see Caleb nod before he asked, _What are you going to do during the break?_

_I thought I would get a head start on my homework and grab my work out stuff._ She wrote. She saw Caleb nod again, and went back to her notes.

When the class was over, she packed up her stuff, noticing that the page she and Caleb had written together on was gone. She looked at him and smiled. "So, I guess I'll see you at lunch, then?" she asked.

His smile grew. "Yeah." He said. "Listen, why do you let Reid walk you to your Trig class? He has that class, too."

Elena nodded. "That'd be nice." She said. "Better than wandering around trying to use that map."

Caleb chuckled. "Yeah, they aren't very helpful, are they?"

Elena shook her head. "No, not really." She replied. Caleb's eyes left hers for a moment and she watched his hand reach up and touch Reid's shoulder as he passed.

Reid stopped and his tired eyes met Caleb's. Elena almost chuckled. He looked as if he had slept through that entire class.

"Would you walk Elena to class, Reid?" Caleb asked the blonde boy.

Reid's eyes came to rest on Elena, and he smiled. "You failed trig last year, too?" He said. When she nodded, blushing, he added, "Funny, I took you for a brainiac."

Elena's blush deepened. "I am." She admitted. "Except in math. Matrices kill me."

Reid chuckled. "You know, they make these great calculators nowadays that make those a lot easier."

"Well," Elena said. "If my teacher had let us use those on tests, I would've been fine."

Reid's brow furrowed. "Well, that wasn't very nice." He said.

Elena shook her head, agreeing with him, but said, "So what's your excuse?"

Reid smiled deviously down at her. "I slept through it." He explained, and she smirked up at him. "Well," He said, looking at Caleb now. "Walking this beauty to class would be my pleasure." He held out his arm for her, and she took it lightly, shaking her head at him.

She looked back at Caleb. "See you later." She said, and he nodded, smiling at her.

"Can I see you're schedule?" Reid asked her as they left the room, and she nodded, pulling her arm from his and digging through her bag and handing it to him when she found it.

Glancing down her Monday column, his smile grew. "Hey," He said. "We have the rest of the day together, except for seventh period. How did I luck out?"

Elena shook her head. "You flirt a lot, did you know that?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "Only the really pretty ones." He said, taking her hand and wrapping it through his arm again. He looked back at her schedule. "I have Stats and writing with you tomorrow." His face fell exaggeratedly then. "Nothing but Government on Wednesday, how will I get through the day until I see your lovely face?"

Elena sighed, feeling the blush staining her cheeks despite herself. Reid glanced down at her again, his smile growing. "Would you like me to stop embarrassing you?" He asked, squeezing her forearm in the crook of his own, and giving her schedule back to her.

"I'm not entirely sure it's in your nature." She said. "I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it, aren't I?"

Reid laughed as he stopped outside a new door. "Good." He said, opening the door and ushering her inside. "Because I wasn't really going to stop." Elena pretended to pout, knowing this, but deciding to joke with him. "All right." He said. "I may have toned it down, just a bit. Maybe."

Elena shook her head and said, "Highly doubtful" as she started to take a seat in the front row again, but Reid grabbed her hand.

"We can't sit down here." He said, and her brow furrowed.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I'll get caught sleeping down here. Come on." He said, pulling her up the stairs to a couple of empty seats near the topmost row. "We can even sit in the middle for a compromise."

Elena just shook her head and sat in the chair he directed her to, pulling out her familiar trigonometry book and her red spiral bound notebook. Reid sat in his own chair and did not bother to take anything out of his bag. He merely snagged her pen from her hand and played with it in his fingers as his head rested on his arms.

She smirked at him before pulling a pencil from her bag and heading her paper with it, feeling as if this was going to become a regular occurrence.

Not even halfway through the class, she could hear Reid's deep breathing beside her and heartily wished she had the courage to join him in sleep. This class had been boring enough the first time, and even at a new school with a different teacher, she could tell that it was going to be just as much torture as it had been last year.

But she diligently took her notes and stowed away her syllabus, slipping Reid's into his open bag for him after she had put stars next to the important testing dates and written, _Don't sleep through these!_ hoping that it would be helpful to him.

When the class was finally dismissed, she retrieved her pen from Reid's slack-fingered hands before shaking his shoulder gently. His head popped up and he looked around a bit before smiling at her.

"Class over?" He asked and she nodded, standing up and picking up her bag. Reid stood as well and grabbed his own before offering her his hand again. She took it hesitantly, feeling another regular occurrence well on it's way as he pulled her down the steps and towards their British Literature class.

She thought back to what Caleb had told her during Government earlier and, while she still felt sorry for him about his Russian Literature reading list, she had to admit that she wished that her schedule had allowed her time for his French literature course, knowing that the reading list in that class would be filled with her favorite novels and stories. Including The Phantom of the Opera, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Les Miserables.

But she looked forward to this class, as well, knowing that, despite the huge list of books they would be reading over the course of the year, there were some really wonderful pieces of literature in the curriculum.

After a short walk, which included going across a really beautiful courtyard, Reid stopped and opened the British Literature classroom door. Looking over the students as he pulled her along beside him, she was pleased to find that Caleb was the only one of her new friends who did not share this class with her.

Reid sat next to Tyler, giving her the seat on the end, on row up from Kate and Pogue. The two turned around to look up at her and she smiled at them as Reid, again, snagged her pen and proceeded to relax on his arms.

"Good morning, Elena." Kate said as Pogue retrieved her pen from Reid's fingers.

She smiled at him as he passed it back to her. "Good morning, Kate. How'd you sleep?"

Kate grinned at her. "Fine. But I think I'll be coming over to your room for a little nightcap every night now." Elena grinned and chuckled. Kate was referring to the Lindor mint truffles that they had shared last night as they discussed their course schedules.

She bit her lip. "I'm afraid I'm clean out of the mint truffles." She said. "But I believe I still have white chocolate and dark chocolate." Not to mention the rest of her score of stashed candy. It was in a fairly good sized basket and was stuffed under he bed, filled almost to overflowing with Lindor truffles, peppermint patties, Reeses cups, bubble gum, mini snickers bars, Starburst squares, blow pops, and anything else you could possibly ever want.

Also, in the bottom drawer of her desk, she had placed all of her non-candy junk food snacks like her Oreo's and things, while in the top drawer she had placed all of her energy bars. She reminded herself that she needed to grab a few of those when she retrieved her clothes for Yoga and her tryouts that afternoon.

Kate smiled at her. "I'm sure anything you have will be great. I'll even bring over my DVD player and we can watch a movie."

Pogue smiled. "I have a better idea." He said, and the girls looked at him. "Why don't We all go out for dinner and a movie later to celebrate Elena making all her tryouts, and then we go out for ice cream afterwards?"

Kate looked ecstatic, but Elena blushed. "I haven't even tried out yet." She told Pogue. "I may not make the teams."

Pogue huffed, not taking her seriously. "Please." He said. "If you were the Captain at your old school, they'll more than like make you a co-Captain or something." He seemed so confident in her that she just had to smile at him. With a muttered thanks, she bent to retrieve her textbook and notebook as the teacher cam into the room.

Reid had, again, fallen asleep sometime in the middle of the class, so Elena wrote out an extra list of the thirty-four books they were going to be reading over the year. She handed it to him after Tyler had poked him back to consciousness, and he groaned, thanking the Lord for Cliff's notes.

Elena shook her head at him, and then she, Reid and Tyler headed off to their Latin class, as Pogue went to the Spanish class he shared with Caleb, and Kate went back to her dorm room, as she had a break this period.

As Reid was still staring, dumbfounded, at the list Elena had given him, Tyler was the one who conversed with her on their trip across the campus. She learned that all four boys would be sharing her break today, after which he, Reid and Pogue would be in her Microbiology class. Then the boys all had weight training and Elena already knew that Kate had a modern dance class.

The hour of Latin was over quickly, and then Tyler and Reid walked her back to a large building in the middle of campus, which turned out to be the cafeteria. After getting their food, the boys towed Elena to a table on the far side of the room, and she was pleased to see Caleb, Pogue, and Kate already sitting there.

As Reid and Tyler sat down next to Caleb and Kate motioned for her to sit next to her, Elena couldn't help but stand there for a moment, mystified. She had come from a place where everyone hated and avoided her, and now, here she was, falling into place with a very tight-knit group of friends who seemed to actually _want_ to hang out with her.

She felt the smile that lit her face then shine brightly as she set her tray down at her friend's table and sat, feeling accepted for the first time in years.


	10. Sports

Chapter Ten: Sports

Chapter Ten: Sports

It turned out that swim practice was cancelled for the day on account of Coach Pierce's wife going into labor sometime during seventh period. So, after showering after their weight training class, the four Sons of Ipswich headed over to the gym to help Kate cheer on their new friend, whose first tryout of the day was volleyball.

They sat with her in the stands, along with two girls who were already on the volleyball team. Elena was already down on the court, speaking with the coach and pulling on a pair of kneepads.

"They're going to have only two girls on each side." Kate told them as they sat down. "Like in beach volleyball." Caleb, however, wasn't really listening to her. He was watching Elena stand there with the other three players, and was getting a bit worried.

Each of the girls she stood with were at least four or five inches taller than she was, and the net was even taller than they were, but Elena didn't look worried about this in the least. She merely cracked her neck and shook hands with the girls who were playing against her and began speaking quietly to the girl who was playing with her.

She looked up for a moment and her eyes met his briefly before looking over the group, her face breaking out into a smile, and waving at them. They all waved back, Reid yelling, "You go Belle! Kick their asses!". At that, Elena just shook her head, rolled her eyes, and looked back at her partner.

Then the coach called for the girls to get into their positions and tossed a ball to Elena. She went to the server's position and stared at her partner's back for a moment before taking a deep breath, tossing the ball up and jumping to smash it over the net. The players on the other side got under it and one of them, in a green t-shirt, passed it to the other, in a black tank top, who set it for her, and then the one in green sent it sailing back over the net.

Elena's teammate couldn't quite block it as it went over the net, and it looked as if it were going to hit, but then, suddenly, Elena threw herself to the floor in a dig and popped it back up. Her partner set it for her as she stood again, and Elena spiked it through the blocker's hands and it hit the floor.

Caleb cheered along with the rest of his friends, as Elena high-five'd her teammate and went back to serve again. The game went on like this for a long time, sometimes the other team scored, but it wasn't very often, and only once did Elena spike the ball out of bounds. But about twenty minutes later, the coach put her lips to her whistle and let out a short blast, causing the players to halt, Elena catching the falling ball in her arms.

"Well," The coach said, smiling at a sweating Elena and throwing her arm about her shoulders. "I think we've found our new attacker." And Elena beamed as Caleb, Pogue, Reid, Tyler, and Kate cheered loudly. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow, ace." The coach said, and Elena shook her hand, then her new teammate's hands, before grabbing a towel and walking towards the group, who clamored down onto the court.

"Great job, Belle." Reid said, slapping her back none too gently. Elena mock-glared at him before mumbling a thanks and wiping her red face.

The other fours congratulated her and Caleb asked, "So, what's next?"

Elena grimaced. "Cross country." She said. "You guys will more than likely won't want to stay for that one. You won't even see me most of the time." Kate hmph'd at her and left the group to go retrieve Elena's gym bag for her.

"Oh, we're coming." Pogue said, throwing his arm around the girl. "What I just don't understand, is why they're having you try out for cross country at all, isn't it usually just a sign-up-and-you're-on-the-team type sport?"

Elena nodded, drying her arms. "Usually." She said. "But I guess this school just wants to make sure they don't have anyone on the team who doesn't take it seriously."

Reid pretended to gag. "Who would want to run three and half miles just for the hell of it?"

Elena smiled. "People who don't really want to play a sport, but who want the right to put down that they did play one on a college application. And they don't really run it." She explained. "They run until they're out of sight of the judges and coaches, and then they either jog or walk until they come back in sight of people. That's where you get the people who take a half hour and longer to finish a course."

Caleb smiled down at her. "And how long do you usually take?" He asked.

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but Kate did it for her, handing her a bottle of fitness water she had dug out of her bag. "Around twenty three minutes."

Elena thanked her and said, "I'm hoping to shorten it over the season."

Reid watched her. "To what?" He asked.

Elena shrugged. "I'm hoping eighteen, but I'll settle for twenty." She drank about half of her water quickly, then said, "I should probably get going."

Pogue sighed. "You mean, _we_ should probably get going, and you're not going to talk us out if it, so just don't try." Elena chuckled and smiled at them before they all moved out to the track, where the three cross country coaches were waiting.

Reid sidled up alongside Elena and Pogue as they neared the coaches and asked, "Why does the cross country team need three coaches?"

Elena shrugged. "I know that one is for the boy's team and one is for the girl's team, but I don't know why there's three of them." Reid scowled slightly, apparently unsatisfied.

Kate took Elena's towel and water and hugged her quickly, whispering a 'good luck' before making her way to the stands, followed by the boys after Reid and Pogue hugged her as well.

"Damn." Reid said as they sat down. "That girl smells good even when she sweats."

Caleb rolled his eyes at his 'brother'. "Have you been pestering her all day?" He asked. Reid gave a shocked 'No!" as both Tyler and Pogue made vehement 'Yes!'s.

Reid scowled at them before looking back at Caleb's disapproving face. "I was only trying to make her feel a bit more comfortable." He said, a bit sheepishly. "She's just so timid all the time, like she's not used to hanging around people or something." Reid went on when Caleb rolled his eyes. "I'm serious! And it seems to be working, so just get off my case about it. At least I'm not staring at her all the time and writing love notes to her in class."

"They weren't love notes, Reid, and all _you_ ever do in classes is sleep." Caleb accused.

"Well, at least I'm not bothering her so she can't get her work done!" Reid argued.

"That's enough." Pogue said, apparently sick and tired of their bickering. "You both are being stupid. Obviously, she doesn't mind Caleb writing her notes in class since she replied to him and still got all her work done. And apparently, she doesn't mind Reid pestering her, or else she'd have asked him to stop."

Caleb glared at Reid for another moment before turning back to the track, only to find that Elena had already disappeared. This annoyed him even more for some reason and he almost started in on Reid again, but Tyler asked, "How was your Shakespeare class, Caleb?"

Caleb sighed. "It was pretty good." He said.

Pogue glanced at him. "I never really got what the point of that class was." He said. "Is it a Literature class, or a History class?"

"It's a bit of both." Caleb explained. "We learn all about the Elizabethan era, and all about Shakespeare's life, and we also read every single thing he ever wrote. All the plays, all the sonnets, everything."

"Hm." Kate said, fiddling with the strap on Elena's gym bag. "I wonder why Elena isn't taking that class, she loves Shakespeare."

"Really?" Caleb asked, his interest pricked.

Pogue nodded. "She has every single one of his plays, and a book of his sonnets. I'm pretty sure that if you ever need any help, she's the girl to ask."

Reid turned to Tyler. "I've been wanting to ask, was that list of books she gave me for British Lit. for real, or was she…" He began to say something vulgar but he changed tactics at the last minute. "Pulling my leg?"

Tyler just looked at him. "Does Elena seem like the kind of person who would do that?" He asked by way of answering his friend.

"Crap." Reid said. "I have to go to the bookstore."

Caleb looked at him. "Why? We have a perfectly good library, I'm sure that you can find them all in there."

"Not the cliff's notes, I can't" Reid replied, sounding horrified at the very thought of reading a full-length novel.

Tyler sighed. "You know, some of those novels are really, very good. I'm not really looking forward to the girly ones, but the Agatha Christie's sounded pretty good. And I'm not entirely sure that cliff's notes has those."

Reid sighed. "They don't." He said. "I looked them all on their website during the break this afternoon. I can get everything but those two and William Wordsworth's collected Works." He shuddered. "Maybe I'll just fail that test. One test can't hurt, can it?"

"Depends on when it is, I guess." Tyler replied.

The group fell silent for a few moments. Reid was lost in his sorrows of having to actually read a book, Kate was fiddling with Elena's bag, Pogue was playing with Kate's hair, Tyler was thinking about how much homework he still had, and Caleb was looking off towards the Cross Country coaches, waiting, a bit impatiently, for Elena to come back into view.

Then Pogue asked, "So, Kate, did Elena say anything to you about last night?"

Kate looked up at him. "Which part?" She asked.

Pogue shrugged. "Any part, I guess. Reid's slip, maybe?"

Kate smirked at him. "I knew you were going to ask me that sometime. It took you long enough, but no, she didn't say anything." Her brow furrowed a bit. "Even when I asked her what she thought of you guys, she didn't say very much."

Reid smiled deviously again. "She was probably still too embarrassed by that dance with Caleb." He said.

Caleb clenched his jaw, fighting not to hit Reid. "For your information," He said. "I apologized to her this morning, and she told me not to worry about it was fine."

Reid laughed. "Yeah but was it a real 'It's fine' or was it a polite 'It's fine.'?" He asked.

"I'm warning you, Reid." Caleb growled, his jaw aching. Reid shrugged and turned back to watch for Elena.

"How long has it been?" He asked, bored.

Kate glanced at her watch. "About twelve minutes." She said. "It should only be about another ten or eleven. And then she goes for the lacrosse team."

Reid sighed. "Belle's lucky I like her." He said. And then the group was silent once more.

Caleb had been wondering all afternoon how Elena was going to be able to do three sports when, about six minutes later, Elena came back into view again, this time on the far side of the track, where she proceeded to loop around one last time. When she neared them, she found the energy to wave up at them and shouted, "I'm thinking I won't be doing lacrosse!" and then she picked up the pace back to the coaches.

Pogue whistled softy. "I don't blame her." He said, and Caleb nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. The poor girl looked worn out, and he had come to understand that, for practice, the Cross country team ran at least nine miles every day after school, and to do that after volleyball would be hard, but after volleyball and another sport? That would have been nearly impossible.

Caleb watched as Elena shook hands with all three coaches and, as they left, came walking back towards the group. She climbed the stairs and sat next to Kate with a relieved sigh, thanking the girl as she was handed her towel.

She buried her face in it and said, "Yeah, thinking I could do all three was a bit presumptive, don't you think?" Her voice was slightly muffled, but they all understood her.

Pogue reached around Kate and lightly pat her sweating shoulder. "I think two is more than enough." He said, and the rest of the group wholeheartedly agreed.

"Now, woman." Reid said, standing. "It's time for you to shower and change, and then we're going to go eat because I'm starving."

Elena looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry." She said. "I told you guys not to wait around for me. I would have been fine, really."

Reid climbed up to the bleacher behind her and stared down at her. "I had to wait for you." He said, smiling deviously. "To eat without something beautiful to stare at would be an utter tragedy." Elena just shook her head and buried her face back in her towel.

Caleb stood now, too, and frowned at Reid, who simply shrugged back at him and snagged Elena's towel. He wiped her shoulders with it before draping it over them and pulling her up. "You heard me." He said. "I am hungry woman."

She laughed and shook her head at him. "You are insufferable." She said.

Reid just smiled at her and shrugged. "You like it." He said.

Kate stood and took Elena's hand. "Come on." She said. "I'll walk you back to the dorms." And the two left.

Once they were out of sight, Caleb rounded on Reid. "If you don't _lay off_, Reid, I swear…"

Reid threw op his hands. "What did I do?" He cried. "Listen, if she asks me to stop, I'll stop, but she doesn't seem to mind all that much, so why don't you just back off? Just because you like her or something doesn't mean she and I can't joke around a little, all right?" And with that, Reid and Tyler left, too.

Pogue turned to Caleb, concern written on his features. "What's up, Caleb?" He asked. "You're not usually like this. Now, I admit Reid's being a bit annoying, but he always does that, and you heard him. If she asks him to stop, he will. So what are you so angry about?"

Caleb sighed and sat down again, plaing his head in his hands. "I don't know." He said. "I just feel really weird. I had that dream again last night, but there was one thing different about it." Caleb looked up at Pogue. "Elena was in it, how she looked today in class, with her hair in a braid and everything."

Pogue sat next to him. "Do you have any idea what it means?" He asked, and Caleb shook his head. Pogue sighed. "Look, Caleb," He said, placing on hand on Caleb's shoulder. "We all feel something different about this girl. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't feel wrong. And until it does, I'm just going to trust it."

Caleb looked at him. "I don't know what I feel about her." He said. "I like her, but she's not like any other girl I've ever been attracted to. You know I usually go for girls like Sarah, but Elena's…" He trailed off, unable to find the words.

Pogue nodded. "I know what you mean. But until you figure out how you feel, you need to get off Reid's case. He's not really hitting on her, and she knows that, so it's not hurting anything."

Caleb nodded, not really knowing what was going on. Pogue wasn't usually the sensitive one, but he did always tell it like it was. "All right." He said. "I'll leave it alone." They two boys stood. "So, where are we going to eat?"


	11. Essays and Gowns

Author's note: Hey guys

Author's note: Hey guys! I just wanted to thank all of you who've been leaving reviews; it's wonderful to know that people really like this spur-of-the-moment story. Now, if you want to see what the Fall Fest gowns look like, there will be links posted on my profile. (Oh, and just for your information, the dream that Elena describes is real. I had it when I was five I think, and so did my father and my Aunt Julie, and we're all terrified of spiders. Also, the bee sting and what happens with Elena and her father is taken from my real life as well. I guess I wasn't being _that_ creative when I thought up Elena's fears, but they fit, so it worked, and I was happy…) Thanks again guys!

Nev

Chapter Eleven: Essays and Gowns

It was Wednesday now, and Elena and Kate were taking their daily break. Kate sat on Elena's bed, reading _Grendel,_ the companion to their first British Literature book, _Beowulf_, and making a large dent in the pile of Reeses cups next to her.

Elena was sitting at her desk, typing furiously. She had already finished _Beowulf_ and _Grendel_ and was almost finished with her report on the two, which had to be handed in tomorrow. It was an essay comparing the two different points of view from each book, one being from the ancient hero's, and the other being from the story's villain.

Dinner the other night had been a blast, as had the movie and the ice cream following it. Elena thought that if this got to be a regular occurrence, she wouldn't mind it in the least. As she thought about Monday night, a small smile crept onto her face, but she shook her head and focused once again on the task at hand.

She heard Kate sigh. "You know," She said, putting down her book. "The Fall Fest is coming up on Saturday, we should really go out for a girl's day after school and get our dresses."

Elena, still typing, glanced at the girl from the corner of her eye. "What's the Fall Fest?" She asked.

Kate chuckled. "Oh, I forgot, you don't know." She said, sitting up. "It's a bit like Homecoming." She said. "It's held in the ballroom on the other side of campus."

Kate grimaced inwardly. "So, it's formal?" She asked.

"Uh huh." Kate said, then her tone turned wistful. "I didn't get to go last year because Pogue and I were…" She paused. "Sick." She apparently saw Elena's non-excited expression and laughed at her, coming over to stand next to her chair. "Aw, come on, Gloomy Gus." She coaxed, laying her hands on Elena's shoulders. "It's a lot of fun, I promise you."

Elena sighed and shook her head. "I haven't been to a dance since my Freshman Valentine's Ball." She said, and stopped typing, thinking back on that horrifying experience and only just stopping herself from shuddering.

Kate squeezed her shoulders sympathetically. "Why not?" She asked.

Elena took a deep breath. "I wasn't… invited." She had almost said wanted, but had stopped herself just in time.

Kate chuckled again. "Well, it doesn't really matter if someone invites you to the Fall Fest or not." She said. "Because you've got four boys already who would love to dance with you."

Elena smiled wistfully now, remembering that she did. This place wasn't anything like her hometown. No one shunned her here. In fact, she had a whole group of friends who always wanted to be around her. She chuckled. "You're wrong." She corrected. "I have three. Pogue is _all_ yours."

Kate nodded slightly, shrugging. "Well," She said, going back to the bed and picking up her book. "I might let you have _one_ dance with him." Elena laughed, and went back to typing. "So, how about this afternoon after you get back from practice?" She asked, and Elena nodded.

Elena glanced at the time and saved her work to a flash drive quickly. "We had better get going." She said. "We have about ten minutes." Kate nodded and got up, dog-earing her page and stuffing it into her bag. Elena dropped the flash drive into her jacket pocket before picking up her bag. She would finish her paper during her Study Hall period after lunch and print it out on one of the school printers.

"Ready?" Kate asked, and the two left Elena's room, walking out of the dorm building together before heading their separate ways, Kate to her Chinese lesson, and Elena to American Literature." It was one of the three classes that no one else in her group of new friends had, including her Yoga course and her class after this on, Philosophy.

She had attended this class yesterday, as well, and thankfully had not had any homework, although she had gotten her list of twenty-five books to add to the list of thirty-four from yesterday. She felt very lucky that she was used to this kind of workload, and that she loved to read, or else this year would not have been as pleasant as it was turning out to be.

When her next two classes were over, she met her friends at their usual table in the lunchroom. "So," She asked Reid as she set her tray down next to Kate. "Have you finished reading your Cliff's Notes yet?"

Reid laughed. "No." He said. "In fact, I haven't even started. I'm going to read them tonight and then write my paper."

"Elena tsked at him softly, smiling. "They have a word for you, sir." She said. "And it's 'procrastinator'."

Reid laughed again and deepened his voice. "I'll be back." He said. "Later." And everyone laughed at him. "Have you finished _your_ paper, yet, Belle?" He asked then, as the group quieted.

Elena shook her head. "Almost." She said. "I just have a few more paragraphs, and I'm going to do them in the library and then print it out." She thought for a moment. "You know, it's funny how we have to type out our papers for our literature classes, but for out writing class they'd prefer it if our papers were hand-written."

Tyler laughed, agreeing. "Just don't get them mixed up." He said, fearing that he might do just that, and Elena nodded. The group laughed and joked through the lunch period, and then they went their separate ways.

Elena started for the library, and found that Caleb and Tyler fell into step beside her. "You guys have a break now, don't you?" She asked.

Caleb nodded. "But we have a lot of work to get done, so we thought we'd come and hang out in the library with you."

Elena smiled up at him. "I'm afraid I won't be much fun." She said. "I get very… interested when I'm writing, and reading for that matter." She blushed.

Caleb smiled as well, his eyes crinkling. He had seemed much more relaxed around her since Monday afternoon, and she liked it. Of course, she knew that it had only been about a day and a half, but she could appreciate a good thing when she saw it, and a relaxed Caleb looked to be a very good thing. "Somehow," He said. "I'm not very surprised."

Elena's mouth turned up at one corner and she could feel her blush deepening. They made it to the library and Elena immediately sat down at an empty computer modem, pulling her flash drive from her pocket. They boys set their bags down next to her and then went searching through the shelves for their respective needs.

When they returned, Elena was already typing away, and they set up their things up on the empty table behind her. Elena smiled contentedly. She loved libraries, the way they felt and they way they smelled. It was just comforting. Not to mention that being surrounded by books written by great authors always made her feel a bit giddy inside.

She knew she was a total geek when it came to books and things, but it was something that she just couldn't help, and couldn't really make herself want to. Back home in North Carolina, she had her own little library, filled with all of her favorite authors and novels. Every day when she got home, before she even thought about her homework, she would curl up on her settee, and _yes_ she had had a settee, and lose herself in a book for hours on end.

About a half hour later, she hit the save button, and then the print button, and exited the document, pulling her flash drive from the computer. She got up and took the pages from the printer before sitting down in between Caleb and Tyler and pulling out her copy of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_.

Tyler set down his pen when she sat and asked, "Could I see you're paper, Elena?" And she nodded, pushing the stack to him and blushing. The essay was a good twelve pages long, but once she had gotten started on all the similarities and differences between the two books, she hadn't been able to stop herself from voicing her opinion on each and every one. Tyler just raised an eyebrow at the number of pages and chuckled softly as he began to read it.

Caleb, too, set his pen down and turned to her. "You know," He said. "I was thinking about you in astronomy yesterday, but I never got a chance to talk to you about it."

Elena's brows furrowed. "Why were you thinking about me in astronomy?" She asked.

Caleb smiled. "Well, the professor was talking about the differences between astronomy and astrology, and I'm not really sure how it happened, but we started a discussion about the different stars that make up the astrologic constellations."

Elena shook her head. "That's still not really a reason to think about me." She said, laughing softly.

"Well, we got to the Sagittarius constellation, and someone said that it had the Red Spider Nebula in it, and I just thought about when Pogue told us that you were afraid of spiders." Caleb explained.

"Oh." Elena said, not really understanding his logic, and not really wanting to think about spiders. "I'm afraid of a lot of things." She said dismissively, picking up her book. She caught a glimpse of his concerned expression though and sighed, putting it back down.

She looked at him. "They're all for very good reasons though, you couldn't fault me for them." She said, blushing as she thought of the things she was most afraid of, knowing that they could be thought of as a bit extreme.

Caleb smiled down at her. "I'm not faulting you for any of them." He said. "I just want to know some more about my new friend."

At this, Elena couldn't help but smile and she figured that there could be no harm in telling him why she was afraid of the things she was. "Well, there are good reasons for the bees and the spiders." She confessed. "But the scorpions, snakes, and sharks are just general, I guess. I don't like scorpions because if I ever saw one, I'd be far too afraid that I'd be stung to try and figure out a way to kill it because they seem like they would be hard to kill, snakes are something that I've just always found creepy, and sharks, well," she sighed.

"I guess that you could call being afraid of sharks a rational fear to have, because if you ever get near one, there's really nothing you can do. If it wants to kill you and eat you, it will. You'd be in the water, so you can't get away from it, you can't kill it because it's a lot bigger than you, there's nothing that can deter it from killing you, and you might not even see it coming, which is probably the worst thing about them. I mean," She looked at him imploringly.

"You could just be swimming there, or sitting on your surfboard, and then a shark comes and you don't see it, and then all of the sudden your foot is gone, and there's absolutely nothing that you can do about it." She paused for a moment, watching his amused face and blushing harder.

But then he nodded encouragingly. "One could see why those would be rational fears." He said, and she beamed up at him. "Now, what are your 'good reasons' for the other two?" Elena couldn't really believe that she was having this conversation, but he seemed genuinely interested, so she kept going.

"Well," She said. "When I was five, I was down at my grandmother's house in Georgia, and my cousins and I were playing in the backyard. I don't really remember exactly how it happened, but I _do_ remember getting stung by a yellow jacket right here." She pointed to the right side of her nose very close to her eye. "It was not a pleasant experience." She said.

Caleb rubbed his nose and grimaced. "I should think not." He said. "No wonder you don't like bees."

Elena smiled, but flushed again. "I'll have to admit that if I see one, I'll act like a child." She said, a slight warning in her voice.

Caleb chuckled. "How so?" he asked.

Elena sighed. "Oh, I'll duck and run for cover with my hands covering my head." She said matter-of-factly.

Caleb laughed again, apparently picturing it, then he sobered a little. "And as for the spiders?" He asked.

Elena took a deep breath and watched him for a moment, biting her lip. "That's a bit hard to explain. You see, I was afraid of spiders even before I had a few bad experiences with one. To understand, you should probably know that both my father and my Aunt Christine are afraid of them, as well. Apparently, every kid in my dad's family has had the same dream about them. Well, nightmare, in all truthfulness."

She watched his confused face. "When I was little, I guess around my dad's age when he had the dream, I was asleep in my room, and I think it might have been the first time my nightlight had never been on. I was dreaming, but I thought that I had woken up and I just _knew_ that there were things in my room. And then, a sliver of light cam from under my door, and I could see that my room was crawling with spiders." She shuddered at the memory.

"They were everywhere, crawling all over the floor and the walls, and hanging down from the ceiling. I think the worst part of it was that I could only see them as shadowy _things_. And then I woke up for real, screaming my head off. I slept with my nightlight for nearly ten years after that." She admitted, but this time she didn't feel her usual blush staining her cheeks.

She hadn't thought about that dream for a long time now, and it still gave her the creeps. "I've been afraid of spiders ever since. And it doesn't help that they all seem to want to attack me." She said.

Caleb looked a bit startled at this. "Attack you?" He asked.

Elena shrugged. "Well, not really, I guess." She said. "But not long after I had that dream, I was, again, at my Grandmother's when I woke up and there was a huge spider crawling up the wall next to my bed. And this one _was_ real." She said. "My mom told me that it wasn't really that big, but it sure did seem like it to me, and I remember yelling for my dad. He came in and saw me all curled up in a little ball, then he saw the spider and he took one of my shoes, and he squished it, even though he's terrified of spider's, too." Elena smiled at the memory. Her father had always been her Knight in Shining Armor, and she only just now realized how much she missed her family.

She shook herself. "And then, last summer, I was-" She paused and blushed.

"At your grandmother's" Caleb said for her, and she nodded. "She should get her house exterminated." He said, smiling at her.

"The sad thing is that she has, all the time." Elena said. "But, anyway, I was reading one night, when all of the sudden, this red spider comes darting across the bed, headed straight for my bare foot, so I jumped off the bed, and it darted underneath the covers. I put my sandals on so that it couldn't readily attack my feet again. But I didn't know where it was, and I sure wasn't going to go _looking _for it, so I just stood there with a shoe in my hands, shaking and crying."

"You didn't call for your dad this time?" Caleb asked.

Elena shook her head. "It was around four in the morning." She said. "I knew that he had already gone to sleep, and I didn't want to disturb anyone."

Caleb sighed. "Always polite." He muttered.

"Well, after about a half an hour of just standing there, staring at the bed, I finally mustered up enough courage to grab the comforter with two fingers and fling it back as quickly as I could. Of course, then the spider just darted down the bed skirt and straight at my feet again, so I threw my shoe at it."

"Did that stop it?" Caleb asked.

"No." Elena said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It just kept coming, so I jumped on it." She shook her head, marveling at it. "I have no idea how I got enough courage to do that instead of just going and barricading myself in the bathroom and just letting it have the stupid bed, but I did. But I just slipped off my sandals after I had squashed it, and let them stay on top of it, then I went and sat in the chair on the other side of the room for the rest of the night."

Caleb gave a low whistle. "No wonder you're afraid of spiders." He said, his hand coming to rest comfortingly on her arm. "I don't blame you at all."

Elena smiled at him. "Thanks." She said. It felt kind of good telling someone why she was so afraid of all those things..

Tyler, although apparently having listened to the entire conversation, well, story really, decided that a change of subject was needed. "This is a really good essay, Elena." He said. "I bet you'll have one of the highest grades in the class." He passed the stack of papers back to her and she thanked him, blushing.

"We'd better get going." Caleb said, glancing at his watch. "Government calls."

"Really?" Elena said. "The Government called you? Whatever for?"

Tyler laughed. "Oh, they found out he was a spy and now they're going to have him killed."

Elena pondered this for a moment. "Oh, well it was nice of them to let him know. Aren't they afraid that he'll run away, though?" She asked.

Tyler shook his head. "No, he isn't very fast." Then he and Elena nearly burst with laughter at the look of consternation on Caleb's face.

"How do you people come up with things like that?" He asked, bewildered and a little annoyed, but thoroughly amused all the same.

Tyler shrugged. "I live with Reid." He said, as if that explained everything.

Elena smiled. "Improvisation." She said. "I love being a drama student."

Caleb just shook his head, giving up, and the three packed up their things and headed for their next class. This time, however, Elena sat with Kate, while Caleb and Pogue sat one row down from them and Tyler sat next to Reid in the row above the girls.

Reid leaned over his desk to Elena. "So," He said. "Did you finish it?" Elena nodded and, anticipating his next question, passed it to him. "Aw, thanks Belle." He said.

She smirked up at him. "That doesn't mean that you can copy it."

Reid placed his hand to his chest as if wounded. "My beauty has so little trust in me!" He cried, but Elena just shook her head and turned back to the front of the room.

A few minutes into class, a folded piece of paper landed on her notebook and she glared at it for a moment before opening it quietly. _This is some pretty good stuff, Belle._ It read, and it was obviously from Reid. _Although it's long as hell, woman! He won't even read this, he'll just give you an A. I'll bet that was your subconscious plan all along, wasn't it?_ Elena chuckled silently, shaking her head slightly.

_Well, I don't want to keep you from your notes for too very much longer or I'm afraid you might just turn around and kill me, but I wanted to ask whether you would go to the Fall Fest with me or not? I mean, I know that you'd be going __with__ all of us, but I was wondering if you'd maybe be my date? And it would just be as friends, so don't get any funny ideas about trying to get in my pants. Although if you really wanted to…_

And Elena was glad that he had left it at that, as she was already blushing hotly. She didn't really like Reid that way, and she had been pretty shocked that he had asked her to go to this dance thing with him, but she was very relieved to find that he more than likely just wanted to make sure that she felt like she belonged there.

She pursed her lips slightly. He had probably talked to Kate in German. But then she thought, 'Why not?', and wrote a brief _Sure _on the back of the paper before folding it and very slyly reached up to scratch the back of her head, holding it in her fingertips. It was taken from her quickly and she was able to put her arm down before the teacher thought she was raising her hand to answer a question that she had not heard.

At the end of the very long day, Elena showered and changed quickly while Kate waited for her, impatient to go dress hunting. Elena had told Kate about Reid's invitation to the dance, and, as Elena had suspected, the girl just smiled knowingly. She shook her head and wrung out her long hair as best she could before twisting it up into a tight bun and securing it.

She then went back to her room, grabbed her purse and Kate and the two headed out to find 'the perfect gowns'. Elena just smiled and nodded at what Kate had to say about the color scheme and things like that, knowing a secret of her own and fully intending to see it carried out.

She parked in front of the little boutique that Kate had directed her to and the two girls got out of the car. "Why didn't Sarah come?" Elena asked, only just now remembering the girl she hadn't seen in days.

Kate huffed. "She already got her dress in Boston." She said. "And Paul is coming down to go with her, and he'll be wearing a matching tie." Kate finished this with a fake little squeal that Elena suspected Kate had made.

"What kind of dress is it?" Elena asked.

Kate gagged. "It's this really bright ice blue, a mermaid cut, with feathers." She said, cringing at the thought of it. Elena couldn't help but share her sentiments. Feathers, really? She shook her head and opened the door for Kate. "Well, thank you, sir." Kate jabbed, but Elena just smiled at her and began to scan the shop.

It really did have a lot of very pretty gowns, but taking one look at the price tags, she felt _very_ glad that her parent's were ecstatically footing the bill. Kate sighed happily as she ran her hand over a silky gown. "You know, we should maybe just go ahead and buy our Homecoming dresses too." She said, moving blissfully in between the racks as Elena followed.

She shrugged, not really caring about what she wore, but searching the racks avidly for something that she knew had to there somewhere. What she didn't plan on, though, was Kate pulling things off the racks and thrusting them into Elena's arms, exclaiming over how great this or that would look on her.

Fearing for her friend's sanity as she placed another gown on the stack in Elena's arms, she purposefully removed herself from Kate's long-armed reach and thought about where _it_ could possibly be. She could picture it perfectly in her mind. The gowns were all grouped in sections according to their colors, so she headed for the dark blues.

The bulky gowns in her arms were getting awfully heavy, but she moved them to one arm carefully as she used the other to push through the gowns on the racks. Then, finally, there it was, just as beautiful as it had been in her dreams. It was the only one left, but she knew that it would fit perfectly.

She took it down and proceeded, cautiously, to head back to her chiffon-crazy friend. "Kate." She said, as she rounded the corner. "I found one that I think you should try." And then she held up the gorgeous gown, hearing her friend gasp in awe and pleasure and drop the many gowns that she was holding.

The gown would be form fitting and sleek, with thick lace straps. It was a sort of tile pattern of different colored blues, and had the illusion of lacing up the sides and top half of the front. Elena had seen it on Kate last night and knew that it was absolutely perfect.

Her features screwed up in pain as Kate squealed her delight and took the dress from her, admiring it briefly before towing Elena by the hand to the dressing rooms. She deposited her in one and then ran to her own.

Elena chuckled as she began sorting through the thirteen or so dresses that Kate had thrust upon her. Going with an earthy color scheme, the girl had picked out greens, browns, golds and oranges. She put the latter two colors on the rack outside the dressing room and then went back to the gowns, sorting through what she liked and didn't like.

She smiled as she found one that she, surprisingly, really liked. It was a coppery brown, strapless but with a matching lace jacket with elbow-length sleeves. It was A-line, which she liked a lot, and the skirt was simple but it billowed around her as she tried it on. The bodice was a woven pattern that looked very pretty. The best part was that it fit her perfectly.

And that was that. She had found her dress, and she had found Kate's dream gown, which looked absolutely stunning on her. Kate decided that she was much to excited about this gown to look at any more today, so the two just paid for their gowns and left, stowing the gowns in Elena's car and walking to a little café down the street. Kate thanking Elena the entire way.


	12. Torment

Author's Note: Now, as you could probably tell from the title of this chapter, I felt it was time to get a bit of action goin

Author's Note: Now, as you could probably tell from the title of this chapter, I felt it was time to get a bit of action going. Actually, it's about to be rather a lot of action, but it's nowhere near the end of this story, I promise, I plan on this going on for a good long time, so don't get worried! Again, thank you all so much for the reviews, and please keep leaving them, they brighten up my days!

Chapter Twelve: Torment

"Miss Belle, could I see you for a moment?" Professor Jenkins asked as the class got ready to leave. British literature was over for the day, and the class had turned in their essays before completing a test on the two books they had been assigned to read.

Elena's brow furrowed as she nodded, wondering what in the world it could be about. Reid saw her look and touched her arm. "We'll wait for you." He said, and shushed her when she went to argue with him.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she descended to the Professor, hugging her notebook to her chest. "Yes, sir?" She asked.

Professor Jenkins sighed. "Now, Miss Belle, I know that you're new here, but I distinctly remember making it very clear to the whole class on Monday that these essays were to be typed. And I'm afraid that, even though yours in on printer paper, I can't accept it." He said, extending her paper to her.

Elena shook her head. "I _did_ type it, sir." She said, bewildered.

The professor raised a bushy eyebrow. "No, Miss Belle, you didn't, as you can plainly see, this is handwritten." He shook the stack of paper to prove his point, and she looked down at it, her jaw falling open in shock. It was her essay, all right, but it was handwritten in blue ink. Only the heading and her name were typed at the very top.

She shook her head again. "I-I don't understand." She whispered. "I typed it. I never even wrote a first draft. And besides," She added. "That's not even my handwriting."

The professor sighed again. "There's really no need for excuses, Miss Belle." He said. "I'm afraid that you'll have to take a failing grade for this paper, but just don't allow this to happen again." He thrust the paper into her hand and turned away, leaving her standing there, dumbfounded.

Reid and Tyler seemed to sense her distress, and they both came to her quickly. "What's wrong, Belle?" Reid asked, his blue eyes searching hers. She shook her head, unable to speak, and simply thrust her essay towards him. He took it, confused, and read the first few lines.

"This is your essay." He said, and she nodded. "Why is it handwritten, it was typed earlier when you handed it to me to pass it down the line." Elena shook her head again and shrugged, still unable to speak. Reid gave the paper to Tyler and took Elena's shoulders in his hands. "Are you all right?" He asked, shaking her slightly.

"It's not my handwriting." She whispered, and Reid grabbed it back from Tyler, examining it once more.

Reid looked at Tyler. "She's right." He said. "And this paper was typed at the beginning of class."

"I know." The other boy said, his brows coming together in confusion. He looked at Reid with a worried warning in his eyes. "But there's nothing that we can really do about it right now." He said, and put his arm about Elena's shoulders. "Come on." He said.

Elena took a deep breath and nodded, taking the paper from Reid's hands, still wondering how in the world this could have happened. Someone must have switched her papers, but who could it have been? No one besides Reid and Tyler had seen it, and she knew for a fact that they would never do a thing like this. And the only copy of it was on her flash drive, and that had been in her jacket pocket, so no one could have stolen it.

Besides, the thing had been twelve pages, single-spaced. Who in their right minds would go to the trouble of writing out that entire thing just to make her get a failing grade. She shook her head as she and the boys parted ways, the two of them off to debate, and she on her way to Chorus.

Another thing that she couldn't understand was _why_ someone had done it. She would have expected something along these lines back at Edmondson, but not here. No one here knew about her dreams, did they?

That thought stopped her short, and she could feel the panic crawling through her veins. What if someone _did_ know? Her breaths became faster of their own accord, and the world began to spin. Afraid, and knowing that she couldn't allow anyone to see her like this, she made a b-line for her dorm room.

-- -- -- -- --

Caleb had just sat down when Reid stormed through the classroom door, and concerned looking Tyler following behind. Reid glared at Caleb and Pogue as he stalked up to them. "All right." He snarled. "Which one of you was it?"

The two boys looked at him, shocked and confused. "Which one of us was what?" Caleb asked.

"Someone's playing trick's on Elena, and I want to know who it is so I can kick his ass right now." Reid said, his voice shaking with anger.

Tyler caught up to him then and put a restraining hand on his shoulder. "I don't think that it could have been either of them." He said, his voice trying to comfort his friend. "Neither one of them would do something like that, and you know it."

Reid just kept glaring and Caleb look imploring at Tyler. "Would you please tell us what is going on here?" He asked.

Tyler sighed. "Someone switched Elena's essay with a handwritten one, so the professor wouldn't accept it."

Reid growled low in his throat. "No," He said. "Someone _used_ to switch her essay. I saw it when she put it in the stack to be turned in, and it was typed."

Caleb and Pogue were shocked and angered, but Tyler, always a voice of reason, said, "That might not necessarily be true, Reid. Someone down the line could have switched it."

Reid scoffed. "Why would they, no one knows her here but us. No one has a reason to torment her."

"None of us do either." Caleb said, a bit stung that Reid would think that either he or Pogue would have done such a thing. "Someone may have just stolen her flash drive or something, deciding it would be fun to pull a prank on the new girl."

But Reid just scoffed and strode away from the group, sitting on the opposite side of the room. The other two appeared to outwardly accept Caleb's logic, although all three of them dwelt on the situation throughout the class.

At lunch, though, the four met up with Kate, who was worried about Elena. "She never showed up for class." She said. And she wasn't in the cafeteria.

"Call her cell phone." Caleb suggested, but it just rang and went to voicemail.

The group was beginning to get worried now, and decided to skip lunch to look for their new friend, deciding to try her dorm room first. Calebknocked on the door quietly and was met with only silence.

"Wait." Reid said. "She might be asleep."

Caleb almost knocked again, but said, "I don't want to wake her."

Reid sighed and his eyes turned black, stared at the door, at then took a step back, his eyes returning to their normal blue. "She in there." He said, his voice concerned. "But she's just staring the wall. She looks terrified."

Caleb turned back to the door and knocked loudly. "Elena!" He called. "Elena, open the door!" He was only met with what sounded like a whimper. His own eyes blackened as he used to unlock the door, throwing it open. He took one look at her terrified face and followed her stare.

There, on the far wall, was a very large spider. It was just sitting there, but it looked… unnatural. Then he looked back at Elena and crossed the room in two strides, kneeling on the bed and drawing her into his arms, turning her face away from it.

"Reid," He said. "Kill it." And he held Elena's shaking body as Reid pulled off his shoe and stamped the wall with it. Tyler plucked a tissue from the desk and scooped up the fallen spider with it before striding into the bathroom. They all heard the toilet flush a moment later and then he came back into the room.

Elena's face was wet with silent tears as Caleb rocked her back and forth, her fingers clutching his jacket. "It's all right, Lena." He said, his voice soothing. "It's gone, don't worry, it's all right." But his words did nothing, she only shook harder.

Then Pogue was by his side, a panda teddy bear in his hands. "Here, sweetheart." He said, pushing it into Elena's arms, and she grabbed it for dear life with one arm, the fingers of her other hand still clutching Caleb. "Why didn't you answer you're phone?" He asked, picking it up from beside her.

Her voice was almost hysterical, but the group managed to understand them. "I-It m-moved when I-I d-did." She said, snuggling deeper into Caleb's embrace. Caleb just looked up at his friends as he tightened his hold on her. "I-I j-just woke up a-and it was crawling up the w-wall." She whimpered.

Caleb leaned his cheek into her hair and said, "It can't hurt you now, Lena." He stroked her back, trying to calm her. After a long while, she relaxed her hold on Caleb, still hugging her bear to her chest.

She looked at him from under her eyelashes and began to apologize. "I'm sorry." She said, her voice a bit calmer now. "You must think I'm out of my mind."

Caleb shook his head, tucking an escaped piece of hair behind her ear. "Not at all." He said. "I know how frightened you must have been. Listen, why don't you take the rest of the day off and try to get some sleep, the guys will tell your teachers that you're sick." He could tell that she almost wanted to argue, but then she thought better of it and nodded.

He smiled down at her. "Good." He bent down and kissed her forehead softly, not noticing how her eyes closed at his touch. "Kate?" He asked. "Would you come sit with her for a minute while I talk to the guys?" The girl was immediately by Elena's side, putting a comforting arm around her.

Caleb walked out the door and the others followed him, closing it behind them. Pogue's face showed his anger. "Do you think its Chase?" He asked.

Caleb nodded. "It has to be, but I don't understand why he's going after Elena." He thought for a moment. "And he's not hurting her." He said. "He's just scaring her, so that makes me think that he might not want anything from us."

Reid shook his head. "But why her?" He asked, angry. "She doesn't have any powers."

"That we know of." Tyler said, his voice quiet. "But then again, I think Caleb's wrong. Chase might know that we all feel _something_ for this girl, that we all want to protect her, and he may want to hurt her because of that. And, then again, he is a member of the Covenant, whether we like it or not, so he may feel something for her, too, only it may not be good."

Caleb sighed. "It doesn't matter." He said. "Whether Chase is tormenting her because of us, or because of her, or just for his own sick pleasure, I don't care. But Elena is not to be left alone, not even for a second." His voice grew deeper, rougher, as he spoke, his own anger making itself known.

Pogue's brow furrowed. "How are we going to do that?" He asked. "I don't she'll let us sleep over or anything."

"I'll think of something." Caleb said.

"I'll stay with her." Kate said, stepping out of the room, but leaving the door open. The four looked at her. She put a finger to her lips. "She fell asleep."

Pogue put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure that's what Caleb had in mind." He said, squeezing her gently.

Caleb shook his head. "No," He said. "That's all right, we really just need someone who can call us if Chase _does_ do something."

Pogue frowned. "I don't want Kate anywhere near him." He said, his voice growing darker.

Kate slapped his arm gently. "Don't worry." She said. "I'll be fine. But, if it makes you feel any better, I think we can figure out a way for Caleb to spend the night tonight, and then I'll stay with her tomorrow night."

Pogue huffed. "That doesn't make it any better." He muttered.

Kate smiled at him. "Well, then, I guess that you'll just have to deal with it." She turned to Caleb then. "I can stay with her for the rest of the day, all I have left are art and calculus. And then, if you and the guys will come over after your swim practice, say, with a pizza maybe? I'm sure that, if you stay late enough, Elena won't want you to have to drive all the way home, especially since it's supposed to rain."

The four boys just stared at her. "Since when have you gotten to be so good at planning things?" Pogue asked incredulously.

Kate shrugged. "I really have no idea." She said. "But I do know that this will be once instance where we can all be glad she's such a predictably polite southerner." She then shooed the boys away and went back into Elena's room, closing the door behind her.

Later, the boys followed the plan and, after their practice, they got a few pizzas and sodas and made their way back to Elena's room. Kate opened the door and Caleb saw over her shoulder that Elena was sitting on her bed, braiding her hair into pigtails. She had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a soft sweatshirt and she smiled at the boys as they crowded in.

"Hi there." She said, her voice much happier now to Caleb's delight. "Kate said that she's ordered ya'll to wait on me hand and foot."

Pogue mock-glared. "Oh, did she?" He grumbled, setting the pizza boxes on Elena's desk and catching his girlfriend around the waist. "We'll see about that." He said.

Reid, however, pushed past him and knelt dramatically in front of Elena's bed. "'Twould be an honor, my lady." He said, his hands folded over his heart.

Elena just shook her head as Caleb said, "Can it, Reid." And sat next to her, handing her a cold bottle of coke and noticing that her teddy bear was still nestled against her thigh. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm all right." She said, smiling up at him. "It's just been one of those days."

Caleb didn't really agree with that sentiment, but he nodded anyway to comfort her. "Yeah, Reid and Tyler told us what happened in your literature class today."

Elena sighed and looked away. "I don't really want to talk about it." She said, and Caleb took the hint.

"What kind of pizza do you want?" He asked her. "We didn't really know what you liked so we got a little of everything."

Elena smiled and then bit her lip. "Just cheese." She said and Caleb nodded.

"I figured." He said, scooting off the bed and heading for the pizza boxes.

-- -- -- -- --

It was around midnight when the thunder and lightning began, and it was not long after that the rain began pelting Elena's window in fury. The teenagers, though, paid no attention to it, far more interested in playing Clue.

They had been playing Cranium for hours, and now had decided to try something else, none of them even bothering to look at the time. They had decided who would play which character, which had involved a very heated competition to pick the number Kate was thinking of between the four boys to see which of them would have to play Mrs. Peacock.

Reid had lost, so Caleb was Professor Plum, Pogue was Colonel Mustard, Tyler was Mr. Green, Kate was Mrs. White, and Elena was Miss Scarlet. They had passed out the cards and were now well into the game, and it was looking more and more like Elena was the murderer.

"Well," She said. "That's just not nice at all." She was laughing and taking an Oreo from to package by the game board.

"How'd you do it?" Reid asked? "Come on, you can tell us."

Elena shook her head. "I don't remember." She said. "I must have been sleepwalking."

"Or you're a schizophrenic." Kate said sympathetically.

Reid snorted. "Oldest lie in the book." He looked at his cards and his notes, and then he said, "I've got it!" He pointed accusingly at Elena. "You did it in the library with the rope, you naughty girl."

"No she didn't." Caleb said. "You lose."

Reid stared at him. "How the hell do you know I'm wrong?" Caleb just smiled calmly and showed him the library card. "Well shi-oot." He said, throwing an apologetic look at Elena, who just smiled at him. "Well," He said. "I guess that means I'm out." And he laid his cards down and leaned back against Elena's bed.

"However." Caleb said. "I do believe that _I_ know how you did it, Lena." She sighed and looked at him questioningly. "You did it in the kitchen, and yes, you did it with the rope." Apparently, no one could argue with him, and he pulled the cards from the envelope in the middle of the board. "Yeah, you killed him alright."

Elena just shook her head. "Why is it always me?" She moaned, bending at the waist with her face in her hands.

Pogue laughed and pat her shoulder. "Because, apparently, you're not very good at not getting caught."

Elena looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Thank you _so_ much." She said, her voice sarcastic.

Pogue just smiled. "Anytime."

"Loser." Elena muttered, putting her face back in her hands.

Pogue shook his head. "Nope, actually, that's you, 'cause you're the one that killed him."

Kate stacked up the cards. "Did we want to play again, or are we ready to call it a night?"

Elena straightened. "What time is it?" She asked, and Caleb checked his watch.

"Almost one in the morning." He said, sharing a look with Kate.

She smiled. "That's not very late, let's play again." The group played twice more, the first time Reid had killed Mr. Body, and the second time it had been Caleb. It was no going on half past three.

"Goodness gracious!" Elena exclaimed when Caleb announced the time. "I'm not going to be any good at all tomorrow at this rate. I need to go to bed." As she finished this statement, there was a boom of thunder that shook the room.

She looked at Caleb and Pogue. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "Well, I can't possibly let you drive in this, especially you, Pogue, your bike will certainly crash."

Pogue shook his head. "That's all right, Elena." He said. "I was planning on spending the night with Kate anyway." He slipped his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

Elena looked back at Caleb. "What about you?" She asked, and he shrugged, looking pointedly out of the window at the driving rain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her bite her lip.

Then Kate stepped in. "Why doesn't he stay in your room, Elena?" She asked, and the pigtailed girl whipped her head around to look at her, almost scandalized. "If you'd just lend him your comforter, I could let him use one of my pillows, and he could just sleep on the floor. I'll have to admit that I don't feel very comfortable with you driving in this either." She said to Caleb. "You haven't gotten new tires in forever."

Caleb shook his head. "Oh, no. I wouldn't want to make Elena uncomfortable, I'll just be sure to drive really slowly." He began to stand, reaching into his pocket for his keys.

Elena looked around her in consternation for a moment before stopping him. "No." she said. "It's all right if you stay, Caleb. Although, I hope you won't mind the floor, you might regret it in the morning."

Reid coughed something that sound suspiciously like, 'Doubtful', but Caleb ignored him. "Are you sure?" He asked, looking at her.

She sighed slightly and nodded, smiling politely up at him. "After all." She said. "It's the least I can do for your help this afternoon." And that was the end of it. The rest of the group left with Kate promising to send Pogue over very soon with the pillow, since Elena only had the one.

Elena began putting the game back in its box, and Caleb kneeled to help her. "Thank you." He said, taking the box from her hands when they were finished and setting it on her desk with the other board game. "I really appreciate this."

She just shrugged and shook her head. "It's not big deal." She said, and began to strip the comforter from her bed. Caleb helped her lay it out on the floor before there was a knock on the door. Since he was closest, Caleb answered it and took the pillow from Pogue before sending him on his way.

He then turned to find that Elena was standing next to her bed, looking uncomfortable, and he inwardly sighed. He knew that the polite thing to do would be to offer to sleep in the lounge downstairs, but he wasn't going to do it. There were far more important things going on at the moment for him to be dissuaded by the awkwardness between them.

So he just said, "Can I use your bathroom for a minute?" She nodded and he tossed the pillow onto the burgundy comforter before going into the bathroom and shutting the door. He stared at his face in the mirror a moment, not really believing that he was doing this, and began to remove his uniform.

Once he was down to his wife beater and boxers, he paused again, his hand on the doorknob, wondering if he should use to turn the boxers into shorts. Then he just sighed and, thinking that there wouldn't really be any point since it was going to be dark and he would be wrapped in the comforter anyway, and opened the door.

He set his folded clothes on her desk and saw that Elena hadn't moved, save to sit rigidly on the side of her bed. "Do you need to do anything before bed?" He asked.

She looked at him and shook her head. "Could you, um." She paused and swallowed. "Could you turn out the lights?" He nodded and did so before kneeling and stretching out on her burgundy comforter, folding one side over his body. It was very dark, but he heard her move to the head of the bed and climb underneath her sheets.

"Good night, Lena." He said. "And thank you again."

"You're welcome." She replied. "Good night." And then he heard her roll over and it was silent for a long while, save for the storm outside. After a while, though, her breaths deepened and evened out, telling him that she was asleep.

Caleb sat up, watching what glimpses he got of her in the frequent lightning strikes. Her back was to him, but, going up on his knees, he could still see her face, and couldn't help but smile. She lay with her left hand under her cheek, and her fingers curled into the pillowcase. In the crook of her elbow lay her panda teddy bear, his head tucked underneath her chin. And with her knees curled up to her torso completing the picture, she looked almost exactly like a little girl.

Looking down at her sleeping form, he thought that he could finally see a part of why he and his friends felt so oddly protective of this girl they had just met. In some ways, she _was_ just like an innocent child, and yet, in so many others, she was much more mature. It was like she had had to grow up to fast, and though she had, she still retained so much of the child that she hadn't had the chance to really be.

And then there were the thoughts that always nagged him. That there was always _something_ in her eyes and in her manner that pointed to a hidden pain. He was almost certain that this was what they all felt towards her, but what he still could not understand was _why_?

And, as he thought about the _why_ of things, he also wondered why Chase seemed to want to torment her, and he found that not knowing frightened him. It frightened him that they didn't know what his ultimate goal for her was either. Did he want to hurt her? And if hurting her wasn't on his list, why wasn't it and then what was?

He shook his head. At this point, it was better not to think of these things until he had more information. Elena's brow creased suddenly, and she let out a little sound. His hand moved to her of it's own free will, but it merely landed on the bed instead. Her head tossed slightly, and she made another little sound. He wondered if she was having that spider nightmare that he had told her about.

And that brought him back to Chase. Could he have? But no, Caleb shook his head. Elena had said that she had dreamed about spiders when she was a very little girl, and Chase would not have had his powers then, it was more than likely just a dream that happened to have been dreamt by member s of her family before.

But he was concerned when her breaths came faster and shorter, and her head tossed a bit more frequently. Then, with a whimper, her beautiful eyes jerked open, their golden flecks dancing in the flash of lightning. Her eyes searched for a moment before snapping to his and she sat up sharply.

"Are you all right?" He asked her. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She looked confused for a moment before shaking herself and sputtering, "A nightmare? Y-Yes. Yes, it was a nightmare."

Caleb watched her, his eyes concerned. "About spiders?" He asked.

She looked at him sharply again. "What?" She asked, and then took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She shook her head. "No." She said. "No, it wasn't about spiders." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

Caleb shook his head. "You didn't." He said. "I wasn't asleep yet." He watched her carefully. "Are you sure you're all right?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry, it's just been a long day." She smiled. "You go ahead and get some sleep, I'll probably nod back off in a moment, too." She reached out and pat his hand briefly before laying back down, her back turned to him.

Caleb, his brow furrowed, lay down as well and stared at the ceiling. After a few moments, he heard her breaths deepen again, and waited, worried that she would have another nightmare. Long moments passed and she did not awaken again, and he soon fell asleep as well.


	13. Tortures

Chapter Thirteen: Tortures

Chapter Thirteen: Tortures

It was the late afternoon on Saturday, and the four boys were at the Danvers' Mansion, putting off throwing on their suits until the last minute. They sat in Caleb's living room, munching on this and that and not really watching the movie that was on the television.

Caleb turned to his 'brothers'. "Remember," He said. "We don't let Elena out of our sights tonight, alright?"

Reid smiled deviously. "It would be a problem." He said. "Her corsage is in your refrigerator."

Caleb's thoughts stopped for a moment, but then his brows drew together. "Wh-What do you mean?" He asked, his throat tight.

Reid just looked at him. "She's my date tonight." He said. "I asked her on Wednesday and she said yes."

Caleb's jaw clenched. "And you failed to mention this because…?"

Reid shrugged. "It didn't seem to be any of _your_ business." He said, grabbing a handful of chips from the bag next to him.

All Caleb could see was red. How dare Reid try to steal his- He stopped. His what? Elena was his friend, nothing more. So why was he suddenly so angry at Reid for asking her to the Fall Fest. His jaw slowly unclenched and his eyes went back to the TV, still not really seeing it.

Sure, he liked Elena, and he had this overwhelming desire to protect her from everything that he could think of that might possibly harm her, but that didn't mean that he liked her like _that._ Like the way he had liked Sarah, like the way he had _loved_ Sarah. He wasn't ready for that, was he?

He thought of Elena, of her sweet smiles and bright eyes. Of her beauty and her vulnerability. He smiled as he thought of Thursday night as he had watched her sleep, snuggling with her teddy bear. She was so different from everyone here, but she tried so very hard to fit in.

"Although," Reid said, breaking into Caleb's thoughts. "Since it's your birthday and everything, I might let you have _one_ dance with, seeing as how you're in love with her."

Caleb just rolled his eyes, sick of arguing with Reid. He wasn't ready to be in love again just yet and that was that. Although, if he had been ready, or Elena had come along first… Could he? He decided, again, that he just wasn't going to worry about it. What was meant to happen would happen eventually. There was no use trying to make it happen now, especially since he and Sarah had only just broken up a week ago.

He checked the time. "Come on, boys." He said. "Time to get on with the tortures of the evening." The other three groaning tragically, but they all stood and headed for Caleb's room in order to get dressed.

About an hour later, they pulled up to the school in Tyler's Hummer, and headed for the girl's building, reaching the steps just as they stepped out of the doors. Caleb took one look at the shorter of the two, and his jaw dropped.

She looked absolutely gorgeous in her copper gown, her skirts sliding down the stairs becomingly behind her as she descended to them. Her beautiful chocolate hair was pulled back softly into a very large bun-like-poof at the nape of her neck, showing off her throat's long, silky perfection.

Of their own will, his feet almost stepped forward to meet her at the bottom of the stairs, as Pogue was doing to Kate, but Reid was by her side before he had moved an inch. He watched, his stomach constricting, as Reid exclaimed over her before bending, kissing her hand, and sliding the Corsage of off-white magnolia blossoms onto her slender white wrist.

Elena gasped at the flowers. "Where on earth did you get magnolia blossoms?" She cried, feeling their velvety petals gently with her manicured fingertips.

Reid just shook his head, linking her arm in his. "That would be telling, my little Southern Belle." He said.

Caleb swallowed thickly. "Shall we go?" He said, and turned on his heel to head for the school's ballroom. All right, he admitted it to himself that he liked the girl a hell of a lot more than he thought he would. And why shouldn't he? She was beautiful and sweet and kind, and she always smelled wonderful, and she had fit in his arms when he had held her on Thursday so well that it was like he had been meant to hold her like that.

He saw Tyler come up to walk alongside him. "You're upsetting her again." He said softly. "She thinks she's done something to offend you." Caleb just looked at him, then down at his feet. Tyler nodded. "Yeah, we've all known it for a while now." He said. "We've just been waiting for you to realize it. Now, wipe the scowl off your face and go be charming for God's sakes."

Caleb glared at him. "As tempting as that is." He muttered, realizing that it was. "She's Reid's date, not mine."

Tyler scoffed. "She knows it's just as friends." He said. "She wouldn't have said yes to him if it wasn't. Besides, he just asked her so that someone else wouldn't." He sighed. "He's not as dense as he seems, Caleb." He said, watching the older boy carefully.

Caleb thought about this for a moment, before breaking into a slight smile, then it faded. "We have to remember, though, this can't be all fun and games tonight. We have to-"

"Watch out for Chase and keep her with one of us at all times." Tyler interrupted, repeating what Caleb had been driving into their brains for two days. "And what better way to do that than for you to be glued to her side?"

Caleb had to admit that the boy made an excellent, and tempting, point. He nodded. "All right." He said, glancing over his shoulder at the beauty on Reid's arm. "I'll do it."

The group walked into the brightly lit ballroom and, amazingly, found an empty table. The girl's set down their purses, and Elena shrugged carefully out of her jacket, revealing lightly freckled shoulders. She sat down almost immediately, while Kate and Pogue made their way to the dance floor.

Reid bent to the seated girl. 'Would you like something to drink?" He asked her.

"Just a water, thank you." She said, smiling up at him. Reid nodded and straightened, throwing Caleb a pointed look, to which the older boy just smiled. He sat down next to Elena, who was fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket and looking around the ballroom.

"You look wonderful tonight." He said, his voice low.

Her eyes flew to his in surprise, and then she blushed and smiled. "Thank you." She said. "You look very nice as well." She took a deep breath. "I thought you were angry with me."

He furrowed his brow, but kept smiling at her. "Why would you think that?" He asked, but she only shrugged and looked out at the dancers. His smile grew a bit, and he moved his chair a tiny bit closer to hers. He reached out at caressed the petals of her corsage. "These are very pretty." He said, moving closer still. "Magnolia's, right?" She nodded, not looking at him. He could see that her blush had moved prettily to her neck and chest. "Are they your favorites?"

She shook her head. "No." She said, swallowing visibly.

Caleb never took his eyes from her face. "What are your favorites?" He asked.

"Lilies." She said. "White lilies." Caleb's smile grew even more, and he stored that tidbit of information for future references. She swallowed again, and looked around the room. "I wonder where Reid is?" She asked.

Caleb took the hint and backed of a tiny bit, looking as well. "It looks as if he's already on the dance floor." He said. Tyler had disappeared, too, it seemed, and Caleb would bet every penny he had that his three 'brothers' and Pogue's girlfriend had planned this.

Elena looked a bit disappointed. "Well," She said. "That's no way for a date to behave." But she didn't sound as if she were too surprised.

Caleb smiled, then noticed that the next song starting was the Cha-Cha Slide, just the kind of song he was waiting for. He stood and turned to her, holding out his hand. "Would you care to dance?" He asked, smiling down at her.

She hesitated, but then recognized the song as well, and nodded, taking his proffered hand. The two made it to the dance floor just as the dance steps were starting. Elena gathered her flowing skirts into her hands to get them away from her feet, and somewhere in the middle of the song, she began smiling and laughing, and there was no tension between the two at all, which was what Caleb had been planning all along.

Somewhere towards the end, she made a mistake and began to go left, when they had to go right, and she accidentally collided with Caleb, who steadied her with ease. "Are you all right?" He asked her, smiling down at her.

She nodded, smiling at him. "I had forgotten how fun this was." She said. And the song began to fade around them.

He nodded. "Would you like to stay out for another one, or do you need to sit for a while?" He asked her, aware that girls usually wore torturous heels to events like these.

She shook her head, and when Justin Timberlake's 'Summer Love' came on, she took his hands willingly. He smiled and spun her once, before begging to dance as they had at Nicky's that first time, keeping enough distance from her to make her feel comfortable, but keeping both of her hands in his.

The song was over far too fast, and then it was 'Girlfriend' from Avril Lavine. He met her eyes with a question, but she just smiled up at him, and kept dancing. Caleb, encouraged, spun her more often, and she laughed each time he did. When it came to the slower part of the song, he spun her and brought her back into his chest gently, bending to put his cheek on her soft hair for a few moments, before spinning her back out and finishing the song with only her hands in his.

When it was over, she seemed to want to sit for a while, and he was content to let her, until he heard the first few strings of the next song. It was a slow one, a waltz even. It was 'So Close' from one of the new Disney movies he couldn't remember the name of. But he pulled her back and wrapped his left hand around her waist.

Many of the other couples left the dance floor, wanting a breather before the next fast-paced songs, so it felt as if he had the whole dance floor to waltz her around, and so he did, his eyes never leaving hers, even when he spun her. And she was smiling up at him. She didn't look like she was feeling awkward in the least. During the very last bars, he dipped her low, and it took everything in him not to touch his lips to hers, but he knew that it would scare her again if he did, so he just smiled and lifted her upright again.

He then led her off the floor and she sat in her chair, completely out of breath, but still smiling. He bent to her. "Would you like that water now?" He asked her. And she nodded, murmuring a thank you. He left the table as Pogue and Kate came to sit with her for a few moments, both out of breath themselves.

He got four bottles of water from the drink table and headed back to the table. He passed them around and sat next to Elena, sliding his chair very close to hers. He twisted off the cap from her bottle before handing it to her, and she murmured another thank you before taking a long drink.

After a few more songs, Kate and Pogue left the two alone together. Caleb turned to Elena, who was much more relaxed now, and still smiling brightly. He cleared his throat, and she looked at him. "I hope that I didn't make you uncomfortable again." He said.

She shook her head, her smile growing. "You didn't." She said. "Far from it."

Caleb smiled down at her, looking towards the dance floor as another slow song started, and offered his hand to her again. She nodded enthusiastically and took his hand. They stood and he led her to the dance floor as Mandy Moore's 'I Wanna Be With You' started.

He held her close to him, one hand at her waist and the other holding her hand to his chest. He free hand didn't quite reach his shoulder without being uncomfortable, so she had opted for his upper arm, but her touch was not as hesitant as it had been at Nicky's.

Caleb swallowed as he looked down into her beautiful eyes. They were a honey brown this evening, but they had large flecks of the green he was so used to, and they glittered with the golden specks he loved so much. She was smiling up at him, and it compelled him to be courageous.

"Lena." He said, surprised that his voice was sure and strong. "I was wondering…" He trailed off, drowning in her beautiful eyes.

"Yes?" She asked, her smile growing and her eyes twinkling.

He smiled down at her. "I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me sometime?"

She froze. He began to open his mouth to apologize, but then he saw that she was still smiling, and she wasn't blinking. The music was no longer playing either. Caleb looked up from Elena's beautiful, frozen eyes, and found that everyone was frozen. He let Elena go for a moment and turned to study the couple next to them.

"Hello, Caleb." Said a voice that Caleb knew all too well. He spun around, but he knew he was already too late.

Chase stood next to, but slightly behind, the frozen Elena, who still looked up at a Caleb she couldn't see. His arm was wrapped around her slim waist, his hand flat against her stomach. His other hand played with the fingers of her raised hand, the hand Caleb had been holding onto mere seconds ago.

Caleb felt the rage build in him so quickly, his eyes had turned black before he even knew what was happening. "Ah ah ah." Chase, his already black eyes holding a warning. "You wouldn't want to accidentally hurt the beautiful Elena, would you?"

"Let her go." Caleb growled. "She has _nothing_ to do with this."

Chase laughed. "Oh, but dear Elena has _everything_ to do with this." He said. "Did you really think I was going to let you keep her?" Then he smiled, looking surprised. "You have no idea, do you?" He asked.

"About _what_." Caleb's voice was grating, and he knew he needed to calm down so that he could think rationally, but just seeing Chase _touch_ Elena was making him see red.

Chase laughed again. "Ah, Caleb." He said, his voice patronizing. "I would have thought that you would have done your homework on this beauty by now. Especially after our little escapade last year, I had thought that you might have learned. Obviously, you didn't."

Caleb shook his head. "She's not dangerous." He growled. "I would have felt it if she were, so there was no reason to go digging around in her files."

Chase smiled evilly at him. "Oh, but they're so _interesting_." He said, trailing his finger down Elena's bare arm. "Did you know that she was a complete outcast at her last school?" He asked.

Caleb's hands clenched into fists. "Kate thought that she might have been." He said, his voice clipped.

Chase smirked. "Smart girl. But I'll bet that none of you know _why._" He said. "Would you like me to enlighten you?" Caleb didn't deign to answer, but the boy did anyway. "They were afraid of her." He said.

Caleb's eyes flew to Elena's face and his brow furrowed, disbelieving. "Yes." Chase said. "I find it hard to believe, too. Who could ever be frightened of this adorable little thing? But, they were. Although, it wasn't really _her_ exactly, it was her dreams."

Caleb looked at him. "Excuse me?" He said.

Chase nodded. "Yes, her dreams come true." He said, and seeing, Caleb's blank stare, he added, "She's a seer, Danvers. Her dreams show her the future."

Caleb looked at Elena again, remembering Thursday night. She had awoken with a start, and he had been convinced that it had been a nightmare, but it hadn't been, he knew that now. The first thought that flashed through his head was, 'Why didn't she tell us?' But her knew the answer to that question.

If she had been feared by everyone at her old school, why in the world would she broadcast her gift to the first friends she'd probably had in a very long time. He felt his brows draw together in sympathy as he thought of how much she must have suffered in order to be sent all the way to Ipswich without her family.

But then he shook himself. He could worry about all of this later, once she was back in _his_ arms, but right now, she was in danger, and he needed to keep his wits about him. "Let her go, Chase." He growled again.

Chase laughed. "You don't get it, do you?" He said. "You don't really think I'd let you keep her, do you?" Caleb stared at him. "You already have power that matches mine." He said. "Why would I let you keep this advantage?"

"What are you saying?" Caleb said, fear for Elena growing like ice in his heart.

"I'm not going to kill her." Chase said. "I'm not that stupid. I'm going to use her. She'll be a very valuable asset to my mission. She can tell me when you'll be at your most vulnerable, and where you'll be when it happens, and then I can kill you."

Caleb shook his head. "She'll never tell you that." He said. "She'd never allow you to kill someone, she's not evil."

Chase scoffed. "You think I care if she's evil or not? Do you really believe that I care if she won't want to tell me things that don't go along with her moral values?" He was smiling evilly now, his fingers caressing Elena's white throat. "You know that there are ways to get the information out of her that I want, Caleb. The body can only take so much pain."

Caleb's whole body shook with anger. "I'll kill you." He roared, and took a step forward, but Chase's hand flew out and he was held back by an invisible wall.

"If you wanted to fight me for her," He said, smiling. "All you had to do was ask. Midnight." He declared. "You know the place." And with that, he and Elena disappeared, and Caleb was released, as was everyone else.

The slow music taunted him as he stared helplessly at the place where Elena had been standing seconds ago, and he could feel the stinging tears come to his eyes. He felt a strong hand on his back.

"Caleb?" It was Pogue, feeling that something was wrong, and only seconds later Reid and Tyler were there as well. "What's wrong? Where's Elena?"

"He took her." Caleb managed to get out. He took a deep breath. "He said that she's a seer, that she dreams the future. He wants her so that he can know every move we make so that he can plan the best time to kill us."

"And you just let him take her?" Pogue roared. Kate shushed him and put a comforting hand on his arm.

"Let's take this outside." Tyler said, smiling apologetically at the couples around them. The group moved into the night air, Kate running to grab her and Elena's things.

"He wants to fight me for her." Caleb explained to Pogue, who calmed considerably at this.

The long-haired boy smiled. "Then you'll kill him this time and we won't have to worry about him again."

Caleb shook his head. "I don't think it will be that simple." He said, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know how to kill him. Whatever I did last time obviously didn't work, and I don't know what else to do."

Kate sighed. "This is ridiculous." She snapped. "All you have to do is get to Elena and get her away from him. Then maybe she'll have an idea about how we can kill him. Just do whatever it was that you did to him the last time, grab Elena, and take her to your house. Then you'll keep her there until we can all figure out what to do. Better yet, why don't all four of you go? You've all ascended now, so he's no match for all of you."

Caleb shook his head. "I'm sure that if he sees all four of us, he'll just grab her and disappear. He and I have a score to settle and he thinks that fighting me over her will settle it." He said. "But I like your idea."

Reid watched him. "You seem to be taking this information about Belle being a seer very lightly." He said.

Caleb shrugged. "We don't really have any reason to be surprised by people having powers." He said. "Although, I am a bit surprised that Kate is taking this so well."

Kate just smiled. "I figure that if she's using it for good, she's fine by me."

Pogue looked at her. "How are you so sure that she's doing it for good?" Kate looked scandalized for a moment. "Other than the fact that she radiates goodness, I mean." Pogue said, smiling.

"I'm fairly certain that she knew I was going to pick this dress." Kate said, smoothing her hand down her skirt lovingly. "And she saved me a whole bunch of time doing it, because it's absolutely perfect." Pogue chuckled at her and slid his arm around her waist. She then looked pointedly at Caleb. "You had better get her back, mister." She said, poking him in the chest. "We have a lot more formal dances this year, and I need her."

Caleb smiled. "I do, too." He said. He took a deep breath and checked his watch. It was half past eleven now. "All right." He said. "You guys go to my house, and wait for us there. If I'm not back by half past one, do everything that you can for Elena."

"Here." Kate said, digging through Elena's purse and pulling out a set of keys. "Take Elena's car, since you don't have yours." He thanked her and ran off to the red Ford Focus parked near their building, his fingers rubbing over the drama masks key chain.

He got in her car and moved the seat back to accommodate for his height, and almost broke down. Her sweet perfume was everywhere in this car. He leaned his head back against her headrest and inhaled deeply a few times before starting the car and racing for the ruins of the Putnam barn.

When he got there, he could see a dark figure standing in the midst of the rubble. He stopped the car and got out, approaching the figure slowly. In the light of the full moon, as he came closer he could see that at the figure's feet lay a crumpled pile of copper. And when he got closer still, he had to stop to admire the fallen form's beauty.

Elena's skirts billowed under her so that no part of her upper body touched the scorched rubble beneath her. One arm lay curled into her stomach and the other had disappeared under her beautiful hair. Said hair was released from it bun and flowed across the copper taffeta like tiny rivers, curving every which way. Caleb had never known that her hair had curls in it, she had always worn it up or in a braid. He hadn't known how long it was either, but it must have reached nearly to her waist.

She looked so beautiful lying there in her beautiful gown, that he almost forgot why he was here, but then he saw her face, just visible beneath her abundant locks. Tears coursed down her perfect cheeks, and her features were pinched in pain and fear.

Caleb jerked his gaze to his smirking enemy. "What are you doing to her?" He demanded.

Chase simply shrugged and smiled wider. "I'm just giving her a dream." He said. "I overheard her telling you about one she had when she was a child. It was so long ago, I figured that she must miss it."

Caleb saw red. He knew what dream Chase was 'giving' her. She was more than likely stuck in a room with millions of spiders trying to attack her. His eyes flew to her crumpled body and he took a step towards her.

"Don't touch her." Chase warned. "Or else, I'll turn the spiders into scorpions, and if you think she's afraid of spiders, I promise you that you've seen _nothing_ yet."

"Leave her alone!" Caleb roared. "This is between you and me!"

Chase sighed. "No, Caleb, it really isn't." He said. "I'm only tolerating this because I would _love_ to go ahead and kill you before I start my fun with her." He smiled down at the girl. "She's very pretty isn't she?"

Caleb roared wordlessly and threw a large ball of power into Chase's stomach, sending the boy flying. He tried to get back up, but Caleb returned a long overdue favor and slammed him back down with a wave of power.

Caleb pictured Elena cowering on her bed, surrounded by spiders, and hit Chase again and again and again. Finally, completely, out of breath, he stopped and watched as the other boy slowly, painfully, got to his feet. Chase cracked his neck.

"Didn't particularly like that picture, did we?" He said, holding his side in pain. "It's going to happen, you know." He said. "I _will_ have her, _all_ of her." Chase began to form a ball of power of his own, but Caleb was, again, to quick for him. He had a large ball sailing for Chase's chest before the boy's had even finished forming.

Caleb saw Chase's eyes widen for a moment before he scowled. "Fine, Prince Charming," He roared. "Wake her if you can!" He cast an evil look towards Elena's body, and disappeared before the ball reached him. Caleb ran to Elena's side and crouched next to her, searching around for Chase's reappearance for long moments before finally looking down at Elena.

He swept her luscious hair back from her face, and saw that she was still in her dream. He shook her gently, trying to wake her, and then more forcefully, but it was useless. Chase's grip on her mind was still strong. Tears coming to his eyes again, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to her car.

Gently placing her inside, he strapped her in and went around to the driver's side, getting in a starting the car, wincing as he heard a soft whimper coming from Elena's throat. He raced back to his house, wishing that he was in his Mustang, as it would have gone much faster.

When he reached the Danvers' Mansion, he skid to a halt, tires screeching in protest, and got out quickly, going around the car and taking Elena out, cradling her gently in his arms. Tears were still coursing down her lovely cheeks, and every now and then a tiny whimper escaped her lips.

He burst through the door, finding his friends and his mother waiting for him in the living room. They all looked relieved to see him until they saw Elena's limp form in his arms, and then they all rushed to his side.

"What's wrong with her?" Pogue roared, his hands clenching into fists.

"Chase has her trapped in a nightmare." Caleb explained. "I've tried to wake her, but it's not working." He looked to his mother, whose eyes were searching Elena's face, her hand lying comfortingly on her cheek. "I was wondering if you might know what to do?" He asked her.

She looked up at him, and saw the worry in her eyes. "I know something that might work." She said, and gestured for the group to follow her. She led them up the stairs and into Caleb's room. Then she turned to them.

"All right." She said. "You boys find every blanket that you can find, Caleb, you and Kate will help me." She looked at Elena, her brow furrowing. "I'm sorry to ruin her gown, but it can't be helped."

Kate shook her head. "She won't care." She said. "She wasn't that excited about it, anyway." But she did slip the magnolia corsage off her wrist and place it gently on Caleb's dresser. As the other three boys dispersed on their quest, Evelyn ushered Caleb and Kate into Caleb's bathroom, and threw back the door to the shower.

She turned on the cold water. "Now, Caleb." She said. "You need to hold her under the water. It won't be pleasant for her, but we have to do it. Kate, could you grab some towels so that we can wrap her in them?" Kate did as she was asked and Caleb swallowed thickly before doing the same.

He stepped under the icy spray, still cradling Elena's limp form, but as soon as the water hit her, she stiffened briefly before beginning to shiver violently. He let go of her legs, holding her back flush to his chest, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other around her upper arms, and his cheek touching hers.

He whispered soothingly into her ear, holding her tightly, until his mother said, "Alright. That's enough, you can bring her out now." And he did, both he and the girl in his arms soaking wet and shivering. His mother threw a towel over his shoulders, and then she and Kate rubbed Elena's arms and hair vigorously.

"Now," Evelyn said. "We need to put her on the bed and then cover her in the blankets, as if it were a fever."

At this, Kate froze, and she stared at Caleb's mother. "We can't do that." She said.

"We have to." Evelyn said, but Kate shook her head vigorously.

"She's claustrophobic." She said, drying Elena's cheeks carefully. "She'll stop breathing if we do that."

Evelyn stared at the girl. "You're joking." She said, her voice worried now. Kate shook her head. Evelyn looked at Elena, then up at her son and bit her lip. "All right." She said, taking a deep breath. "You'll have to stay with her, then. And I'll go to the old house and see if I can find anything that will help us."

Caleb nodded and carried Elena's once again limp body to his bed, noticing that Pogue, Tyler, and Reid were standing there, their arms overloaded with blankets and sheets. Kate went to them and explained the situation as Caleb gently placed Elena on the bed, making sure that she was not lying on her dripping hair.

"Here." Kate said, lifting her head and placing a soft towel under it to gather the water from Elena's beautiful hair.

Caleb sat next to Elena, stroking her goose bump covered arm. "You guys should go with my mother." He said, addressing Reid and Tyler. "And Kate, you and Pogue should go and get changes of clothes for everyone. I'm going to stay here and see what I can do for Lena." And, with that, the group dispersed.

Caleb looked down at Elena's shivering form, and used briefly to dry her ruined gown. But he could see that her dream had become no better, and tears came to his own eyes as he watched them course out of hers. He then left her side briefly to change out of his wet suit and into a pair of sweatpants.

Back at her side, he took a deep breath and stretched out next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and curving the other above her head, his fingers wrapping themselves in her hair. He had decided to try something that he had never done before, and wasn't entirely sure that he _could_ do.

He took another deep breath, preparing himself as his eyes flamed black again, and then he placed his lips to Elena's cold forehead.

He was in her dorm room, near the door, and what he saw horrified him. The floor under his feet was crawling with spiders. They were crawling up and down the walls, and over every single piece of furniture, every book in the room. They even had begun spinning their disgusting webs over Elena's two stuffed animals, sitting out of the girl's reach on her desk. Looking up, he even saw that they crawled along the ceiling, some even hanging down from it menacingly by their almost invisible threads.

_He then looked at Elena, sitting alone in the middle of her bed, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms hugging them tightly. She was shaking horribly and tears coursed down her cheeks from wild, frightened eyes that roamed the room frantically. He called to her, and she looked at him briefly before returning to the spiders._

_He took a step towards her, but she whimpered and drew back as much as she dared, her eyes flying to him. "Don't touch me." She whispered, her voice choked with terror. "Please don't touch me." Her eyes roamed over his body, stopping, wide-eyed, at the hands that were outstretched to hold her. His brow furrowed and he looked down at himself._

_He was covered in spiders that he could not feel. The crawled over his bare torso, his arms and his hands. And, even though he could not feel them, he dropped his arms and stepped back, away from the horrified girl on the bed, aching to hold her and comfort her, but knowing how horrible that would be for her._

_Once she deemed that he was not about to touch her, her eyes went back to the ceiling and the walls._

"_It must hurt terribly not to be able to hold her." Said a voice that Caleb knew well. He spun to see Chase standing in Elena's bathroom doorway. He was looking at Elena with a pensive expression on his evil face. "I'm getting the feeling that our little beauty here doesn't like spiders very much." He said nonchalantly. _

"_Stop this." Caleb said, his voice trembling. "Can't you see what you're doing to her? She doesn't deserve this." His eyes went back to Elena, who was ignoring their conversation; far more interested in the threat the spiders around her represented. _

"_I've been trying to find a way to read her mind." Chase said, his voice conversational as he kept staring at the terrified girl. "But she has it under lock and key. I get the feeling that you have to know certain information in order to get into that brain. Almost like a password. I was hoping that she would tell me what I needed to know, but, as you can see, she not really keen on conversations at the moment. Now I'm hoping that you will give me what I need to know."_

_Caleb snorted. "I don't know anything about her." He said. "So you're out of luck."_

_Chase sighed. "Then I guess poor Elena is, too." He said. And Elena screamed. Caleb's eyes flew to her, and her eyes were on the ceiling just above her head. There, drifting lazily down towards the cowering girl, was a spider that was different from the rest. It was not brown, but an ominous black with a dangerous red spot on it's back. Elena's wide eyes watched it's every move as it dropped slowly down to her._

"_Stop it!" Caleb roared. "I'm not going to know what it is that you want to know. None of us know her very well yet." _

_Chase stopped and the black widow disappeared. "Ah." He said. "But you will know eventually, won't you." _

_Caleb shrugged. "I might." He said. "Why?"_

_Chase smirked. "I'm going to be checking in on her very often." He said, dismissing Caleb's question. "Now, you might want to get out of her head and wake her up." He said, and Elena screamed again._

_Caleb's eyes flew to the ceiling, expecting another black widow, but he was met with crawling scorpions, their stingers poised for attack. "We can't wake her up that way!" He shouted, frantic. "She's claustrophobic, she'll stop breathing." _

_Chase just sighed and chuckled slightly. "Oh, Caleb." He said, his voice indulgent. "It's not a fevered sleep, it's a troubled sleep. You would know the difference if you studied up on your fairytales. Now go and be a prince charming to your princess while I still let you have her."_

Caleb took one final look at Elena's whimpering, cowering form, and then he pulled himself out of her mind.

Caleb looked down at Elena's tear-streaked face and lifted himself onto his elbow next to her. His hand moved up from her waist to her cheek and he smoothed away her tears for a moment before bending his head to hers. He hesitated for only a moment before touching his lips to hers, and felt a joy burst in his heart that he had never known before. It was almost a feeling of being complete; of finally possessing something that he hadn't even known was missing from his chest.

He lifted his lips from hers after a moment and stared down at her, not really trusting Chase's words, but hoping against all hope that he had been telling the truth. And, a moment later, Elena's beautiful eyes fluttered open. They met his own for a split second before flying to the ceiling and searching it wildly.

He caressed her face. "Don't worry, sweetheart." He said. "There aren't any spiders here, I promise you." She nodded, but still searched the ceiling and the walls. He wrapped her in his arms and drew her to his chest, and she snuggled into him, but her face was still turned upward, and he could not turn it away.

He tried soothing her in many different ways, murmuring in her ear, caressing her cheek, then her arm, then her bare upper back, but nothing worked. And then he tried twisting his fingers in the drying hair at the nape of her neck, but she whimpered, bursting into hysterical tears, and sat up, pushing out of his arms entirely, her hands rubbing the back of her neck frantically.

"Hey!" Reid's voice came from the doorway, and Caleb sat up as well, seeing his friends and his mother coming into the room, his mother holding a large book, and Kate and Pogue holding clothes. "Belle's awake." But the joy in his voice faded when he saw the state that she was in.

Caleb reached for her shoulders, but she flinched away from him, curling her arms around her knees and searching the walls and floors. Pogue was the first one to get to the bed, throwing his pile of clothes to the floor. His eyes turned black for a moment and then Elena's bear was in his hands. Her wild eyes saw it and her hands reached for it, pulling it to her chest as soon as Pogue had handed it to her. Her face buried in its head as her body shook with sobs.

Pogue gestured for Caleb to go to his mother as he put a comforting hand on Elena's back. Caleb got up from the bed with one last, longing look at the sobbing girl, and then went to his mother, who stood looking on, her own eyes wet with tears.

"What did you find, mother?" He asked. She had gotten a lot better since his father had died, though she had had a very bad patch for a few weeks just after it had happened. And she still worried about her son, but she understood that he was careful, that he knew what he could and could not do with his powers, and that he never wanted what had happened to her husband to happen to him.

She held out the book to him. "It's a book of herbs." She said. "There's one in there that's supposed to help ward against things that would seek to control the mind. It's a wildflower called Vervain. And she can drink it in a tea, or sprinkle it into her bath, or even just keeping a sprig of some petals near her will help to keep Chase out of her head."

Caleb smiled down at his mother and couldn't stop himself from hugging her tightly. This herb would be perfect. He turned back to the group by Elena's bedside. Reid was asking what Elena was looking for.

"Spiders." She whispered. "I know that there aren't any here, but I keep seeing them out of the corner of my eye. They won't go away." Caleb took a step toward her, his hand outstretched, but she flinched away from him, and then she burst into renewed tears. "I'm sorry." She said. "B-but you were in my dream, and there were spiders all over you and I…" She stopped and sobbed again into her teddy bear.

Caleb dropped his hand, cursing Chase with all his might. "It's all right Lena." He told her. "I understand." And he fought to keep his face from showing the pain he felt. He wanted so to go to her, to pull her into his arms and comfort her, to let her know that he would never let anything hurt her ever again, especially not any spiders.

And he did understand why he could not, though it tortured him all the more to see that she was actually ashamed of herself for flinching away from him. And, thankfully, Reid noticed this as well. "Belle." He said, his voice gently chiding as he took one of her hands in his. "You're being too polite again. Caleb really does understand why you don't want him to touch you right now. But what's going to hurt him is that you're ashamed of it. You can't help it, so don't think that you can, because none of us do."

Kate put her hand on Elena's shoulder. "Come on, Elena." She said. "Let's send these boys out of here so that you can put on some comfortable clothes and then get some sleep."

But Elena shook her head roughly. "I don't want to sleep." She murmured into her teddy bear.

"You don't have to." Caleb said, still standing away from the group by the bed. "We can just go downstairs and eat and watch movies all night if you'd like. But you shouldn't stay up here and keep thinking about your dream, you'll just drive yourself crazy."

Elena looked up and met his eyes. "I don't want to be a bother." She said.

Caleb sighed and smiled at her, shaking his head. "You're never a bother, Lena." He said. Elena then tried to smile at him, and managed a tiny, wobbly one that was nowhere near a shadow of her usual smile, but it disappeared as she moved to get off the bed, her eyes immediately going to the floor, searching.

Pogue grinned at her and dropped to the floor, running his hand under the side of the bed, and looking up at the frightened girl. "Nope." He said. "No spiders here either."

Elena nodded and gave the wobbly smile to him as well before swinging her bare feet over the side of the bed. She hesitated for a moment before setting them on the floor, and then she stood, still hugging her bear to her chest. She looked a t Caleb, who stood absolutely still as she slowly walked towards him, holding his breath.

When she reached him, her eyes searched his torso and arms for a moment, and then she wrapped her arms around his waist, holding her bear in one hand. He cheek snuggled into his bare chest and his arms went about her shoulders slowly. His cheek met her hair and he held her for a moment as the boys filed out of his room.

After a moment, he released her. "I'll be right outside." He said, his hands on her shoulders. "You get changed, and then we'll watch whatever movies you want, all right?" She nodded and smiled again, and he was happy to see that it was growing a bit stronger. "Just call me if you need me." And he hugged her one last time before kissing her forehead lingeringly and leaving the room.


	14. A Truth Revealed

Chapter Fourteen: A Truth Comes Out

Author's Note - Hey guys, sorry about the long wait in between chapters, but I just started a new job and they're killing me already, and I've been spending a lot of time writing scenes from future chapters as they came to my head. (And I've been reading a few romance novels lately, so get yourselves prepared, lol)

Chapter Fourteen: A Truth Revealed

Caleb, Elena, and Kate walked into Caleb's kitchen to find Reid already eating a large spread on the island. Pogue was still searching the refrigerator, and Caleb's mother and Tyler were pouring over the book opposite Reid.

Caleb steered Elena to the barstool next to Reid before joining the two at the book, and Kate went to Pogue, slipping her arms about his waist.

"That's for you." Reid told Elena, gesturing towards a large glass of milk next to a bag of Oreo's. "They aren't double stuff or anything, but we thought they'd do." Elena smiled and murmured a thank you, taking the glass and taking a long drink.

Caleb looked up at her from across the island and gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned, and he was happy to see that it was much stronger than her previous ones. Her teddy bear was still in her lap, but she was not clutching it as hard as she had been earlier, which he took as another good sign. He left the two at the book and walked around to her, pulling the bag of cookies towards him and opening it for her.

"What's his name?" He asked, nodding at the bear in her lap.

She blushed at bit and said, "Panda Bear."

Caleb chuckled and handed her an Oreo. "Original." He said, smiling at her as she took it.

"She has a horse named Horse." Pogue said, he and Kate joining the group at the island.

Elena blushed harder and shrugged. "I just wasn't very original when I was kid, that's all."

"Oh, it's original." Reid said. "Just not very creative." He snagged the Oreo from her hand and stuffed it into his mouth. Caleb scowled at him as he handed her another. She declined this one, though, and took another drink of her milk. "So," Reid said again. "Have you had your visions long?"

Elena's eyes snapped open and the next sound in the full kitchen was of shattering glass as her glass slipped from her suddenly numb fingers. "How- How did you know about that?" She was shaking again and Caleb felt as if he could have murdered Reid right then and there.

He took her trembling hand in his. "You remember seeing me in your dream tonight?" He asked, and she nodded stiffly. "Do you remember there being another boy in it, too?" She nodded again. "His name is Chase Collins, and he's the one who told us."

Her frightened eyes met his. "Y-You don't think he'd t-tell anyone else, do you?" She asked, her voice breaking with obvious terror.

Caleb shook his head. "No." he said, his voice firm. "No one else knows that he's here."

Elena nodded and took a deep breath, pulling her hand from Caleb's. She stood and backed away from the group, her eyes on the floor. Biting her lip, she said, "I, um," She looked up, searching their faces. "I'll – I'll understand if you – if ya'll don't want to, um, be friends with me anymore." She said, and Caleb could see the tears in her eyes.

His brow furrowed and he took a step towards her. "What are you talking about?" He asked, his hands wrapping around her upper arms and pulling her towards him. "Of course we'll still be your friends. We don't care that you happen to see the future when you dream."

"You're just like a real Disney princess." Reid said, saluting her with his can of Coke. "Your dreams really _do_ come true."

Elena's brow furrowed now. "B-but I thought…" She stopped, the tears finally sliding down her pale cheeks.

Caleb wiped them away. "Is that what happened at your old school?" He asked. "Did they find out and not want to be around you anymore?"

Her eyes flew to his again and she took a shaky breath. "They thought I was a witch." She said, her voice a whisper. Caleb fought to hide a smile until her next words. "They thought I was evil, unnatural."

"They were cruel to you?" He asked, and everyone in the kitchen froze, hanging on Elena's every word as she began to explain the horrors she had suffered. She told them of the gum in her hair, of the threatening phone calls, of her locker being broken into, her textbooks being ruined, and, finally, of being thrown into the pool.

"My parents were afraid that, since everyone had started using extreme violence, that it would be much safer for me if I went to a school far away." She finished, after Caleb had led her back to her stool. After a few moments of stunned silence as everyone else took in her words, she asked, "So, why aren't any of you bothered by this?"

Kate smiled at her and took her hand from across the island. "Because we all know that you couldn't be evil even if you tried." She said, her voice comforting. "Your dreams can't hurt anyone, and, from what I've seen, you use them to help people."

Elena shook her head. "How would you know that?" She asked.

Kate chuckled. "How else would you know what dress I would love for Fall Fest?" She asked, and Elena blushed. "How long would I have searched before I found the perfect one?"

"Hours." Elena said, a small smile of her own burgeoning.

"See?" Kate said, squeezing her hand. "You saved us a whole day that we spent having fun together, instead of trying on thousands of gowns. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say that that was pretty helpful."

"What else have you dreamt about since you've gotten here?" Reid asked, stuffing his face again.

Elena shrugged. "Nothing much of interest." She said. "I dreamed about Kate's dress, obviously, and Caleb's apology on Monday, which was going to be much longer, by the way." She said, and Caleb smiled, thinking of the whole speech he had rehearsed in the mirror that morning. "A corsage, but it was lilies, not magnolias, which were very beautiful." She added, laying a hand on Reid's arm. "And your very funny reaction to the British Literature book list." She blushed suddenly, glancing up at Caleb, and then away rather quickly. "And not much else." She said.

"So you only dream about small things?" Reid asked.

Elena shook her head. "No, sometimes, their pretty big things." She said. "On Saturday I dreamed about someone drowning in a pool, but they were saved, so I didn't think about it again."

"Was it you?" Caleb asked, thinking back to her tale.

She shook her head again, this time more avidly. "No." She said. "It couldn't have been me. I'm not going to go near any pool."

There was another silence now, but Evelyn broke it, shutting the large book suddenly and standing, holding it to her chest. "Well," She suggested. "Why don't you kids go in the TV room and get your minds off this business for awhile." She then began to leave the kitchen, stopping at Elena's side on the way out. She touched a hand to the girl's pale cheek briefly, and then continued on her way.

Pogue then produced another glass of milk to Elena, asking, "Well, what movie would you like to watch?"

Reid groaned. "_Please_ not a chick flick!" He cried.

Elena smirked a little, then turned t o Caleb. "Do you have 'The Man In The Iron Mask'?" She asked. And he smiled down at her, nodding.

"Oh, thank God!" Reid cried again, grabbing the bag of Oreo's and wrapping his arm around Elena's shoulders. "The girl has some sense!"

"Yes, she does." Kate said, smiling conspiratorially with Elena. "You boys get swordfights, and Elena and I get to stare at Leonardo Dicaprio."

Pogue frowned down at his girlfriend. "I didn't know that you liked him." He said, his voice a bit sulky.

Kate scoffed. "Come _on_, Pogue." She said. "What girl _doesn't_?"

The group left the kitchen and headed to the TV, Tyler going immediately to Caleb's DVD collection to find the preferred film. Reid pulled Elena down onto one of the two couches in the room, his arm still about her shoulders.

Kate and Pogue settled on the other couch, perpendicular to the one Reid had claimed, and turned on the TV, fiddling with the buttons until the DVD menu came up. He then turned around to take a seat on Elena's opposite side, and stopped dead. There, by Elena's left shoulder, sat a tiny brown spider exactly like the ones Chase always preferred to use.

Caleb forced a smile and addressed Elena, keeping an inconspicuous eye on the spider moving steadily towards her. "Elena, why don't you come over here and pick out the movie you want to watch after this one?" He said. "So that we don't have to spend too much time on it later."

She looked up at him, her brow furrowed for a moment, before she nodded and stood just in time, moving do follow Caleb's direction. When her back was turned, Caleb motioned Reid's attention to the spider. The boy cursed under his breath and grabbed a tissue from the box on the side table, squishing it immediately. He then got up and left the room, going back to the kitchen to throw the thing away.

"How about this one?" Elena asked, showing him another film. Caleb started for a moment before glancing at it and murmuring an affirmative. Elena then gave him the DVD and looked back towards the couch. "Where'd Reid go?" She asked, turning back to Caleb.

"Oh," He said. "He went to go grab something else from the kitchen. And he had to fight a smile as the boy, who was just coming back into the room empty handed, performed a rather graceful pivot in mid-step to go and do just that. Caleb then put his own arm about Elena's shoulders and guided her back to the now-non-threatening couch, assuming Reid's spot and sitting, pulling her down into his side.

Reid sighed as he plopped down on Elena's left. "Must you _always_ get the girl, Danvers?" He asked, jokingly perturbed.

Caleb shrugged. "You left." But he had the sincere pleasure of watching Elena blush, and an even greater one when she did not pull away from him, but rather snuggled a bit deeper into his embrace. "Are you comfortable?" He asked her as the movie began, Tyler snagging Reid's throw pillow and sitting on the floor in front of Elena, whose feet were curled beneath her.

She nodded, smiling up at him, and leaned her head onto his shoulder, which he only now realized was still bare. Her silky hair, which was now almost completely dry, felt wonderful on his skin, and his fingers left her shoulder to twist a long curl.

He didn't pay much attention to the film, his eyes searching for any more of Chase's cruelties, and his thoughts on the girl in his arms. He wanted to kiss her again, so badly, but he didn't know how she would react. He hadn't exactly gotten her permission for the first one, which he doubted that she remembered anyway. And, until tonight, she hadn't really shown that much interest in him romantically. And she never had been able to answer his question about that dinner. He didn't even know whether she had been able to hear it or not.

They were about halfway through the movie when he looked around at his friends and saw that every one of them besides Elena was fast asleep. Reid had slumped over the armrest, and his loud snores were thankfully muffled by his awkward positioning. Tyler had lay down a while ago, resting his head on his stolen pillow and now slept peacefully. Kate and Pogue were stretched out on the other couch, content in each other's arms.

He looked down at Elena and saw that she, too, looked very tired, but he knew that she would not want to sleep for any length of time tonight. He licked his lips briefly, gathering his courage once more. "Elena?" He said, and she turned her beautiful eyes on him. "Do you remember when we were dancing this evening, and I asked you a question?"

He watched her eyes go distant for a moment, remembering, and then she said, "I remember dancing, but I don't remember you asking me anything." She said. "Did you?"

Caleb shook his head, silently cursing Chase to the deepest pits of Hell. "I wanted to, but I guess I never got up enough courage." He took another deep breath. "What I wanted to ask, was if you would like to go out and have dinner with me sometime."

Elena lips parted for a moment, and then she smiled, blushing. "I'd like that." She said, and Caleb had to stop himself from punching the air in victory, settling for a large grin.

"How about tomorrow night?" He asked. "I know a really good steakhouse, or we could have Italian, if you wanted."

Elena shrugged, still smiling. "I don't mind where we go." She said. "And tomorrow would be fine."

"Great." Caleb said. "Um… Why don't we do the steakhouse, since I would have to make a reservation for Zabaglione, or else we'd be standing in line for hours. It's about forty-five minutes away, too, and you have cross-country Monday morning."

Elena chuckled, and laid a hand on his arm. "The steakhouse sounds wonderful." She said.

"Okay. It's a really fun place." He said. "They give you Mardi Gras beads and everything. But, speaking of cross-country, when's your first meet?"

"Caleb." She said, shaking his arm gently.

"Yes?" He said.

"You're babbling."

He grimaced slightly. "Sorry." He said.

Elena shook her head. "Don't be sorry." She said. "And my first meet is next Saturday."

"Really?" He asked. "Well, then, we should come, you know, to cheer you on."

Elena chuckled again. "Well," She said. "If ya'll really want to get up at five in the morning and stand in the rain just to cheer me on when you won't be able to see me most of the time, your welcome to do so."

"Oh yeah." He said. "I'd forgotten how boring that was."

Elena nodded. "But you can take me out for coffee when I get back if you want to." She said.

Caleb smiled. "Did you just agree to a _second_ date with me?" He asked, bringing his face closer to hers.

Elena blushed and touched her fingertips to her lips. "I guess I did." She said, smiling up at him. Caleb smiled at her, as well, and, realizing how close he was to her, couldn't help but glance down at her lips.

His eyes then met hers again questioningly, and he saw a sweet acceptance in them. He tilted his lips towards hers for the second time tonight, and, when they touched, it was even sweeter than it had been earlier. The fingers that had been on her now-occupied lips, moved to his cheek with a featherlike touch, and his own free hand moved up to sink itself into her luxurious hair.


	15. A Date: Part One

Chapter Fifteen: A Date

Chapter Fifteen: A Date Part One

Caleb and Elena had not slept that night. They had stayed awake the entire time, and when one movie was over, Caleb would simply get up and put in another one. But the two didn't really pay that much attention to what they were watching, though Caleb always made sure that whatever he decided to put in didn't have a single spider anywhere in it.

The couple spent the night talking quietly, learning about each other. What they liked and what they didn't like, their childhoods, their families. The only things that the two _didn't_ really talk about were any more of Elena's bad experiences in her old town, and the Covenant, which Caleb had decided not to tell her about yet.

He wasn't entirely sure why he didn't want to tell her yet, but he figured that it mostly had to do with not wanting to scare or upset her with it, at least not until they had known each other longer.

This went on until well after dawn broke outside the large windows, when the others finally began to wake up. Kate was the first one to speak coherent sentences. "So, why don't we swing by the dorms and change, and then go out to breakfast?" She asked, and the others agreed in various ways.

The group waited for Caleb to change first, each one taking turns trying to poke Reid into consciousness, Tyler being the only one to succeed. Once Caleb had made his way back down the stairs, throwing on his peacoat as he went, Tyler, Pogue, Kate, and an only semi-conscious Reid piled into Tyler's hummer, while Caleb and Elena took her car.

"You drove this last night, didn't you?" She asked, reached under her to pull her seat forward.

Caleb smiled at her. "Yeah, sorry." He said, but she only shook her head, telling him not to worry. "Oh, I almost forgot. I picked this up off my dresser this morning, I thought you might like to keep it." He carefully pulled her corsage from the night before out of his coat pocket.

She smiled at him and took it, her fingers grazing his. "Thank you." She said, as she slid it back over her wrist.

"Next time, I'll make sure that it's lilies." He said.

Elena smirked at him out of the corner of her eye as she started the car. "Are you trying to get me to agree to a _third_ date with you, Mr. Danvers?" She asked.

He shrugged, grinning. "Is it working?" He replied.

"Maybe." She said, putting the car in gear and starting for the school, following Tyler's Hummer. Once they got there, the two drivers parked their cars in their usual spots, and the groups vacated them, starting their trek up the many flights of stairs.

"You know." Kate said. "As great a workout as these stairs are, I really wish that they would put in an elevator."

"It's a conspiracy." Reid said, having woken up a bit more on the ride over apparently. "It's so that anyone who's too drunk to finish climbing the stairs gets caught by the chaperone people. It's actually very effective." Elena stopped and looked back at Reid, her brow furrowed. "What?" He asked.

"You're weird, Reid." She said, in an extremely serious voice that had everyone laughing instantly.

Reid sighed. "I was wondering _when_ you were going to notice that, Belle." He said, moving up a couple of steps and throwing his arm about her shoulders.

Then the group parted ways as Reid and Tyler were on the floor above the girls. Caleb and Elena dropped Kate and Pogue off at Kate's room, after taking a quick peek to see that Sarah was not there, and then proceeded the Elena's room.

"You know," Elena said, as she dug around in her purse for her room key. "I already knew that Reid was weird, I was just reiterating it."

Caleb laughed as she found it and pulled it out, beginning to unlock the door. "I'm pretty sure he knows that." He said. "But you might want to point it out to him more often."

Elena shook her head, beginning to open the door. "He'll just take it as a com-" She stopped, her hand on the doorknob, staring into the room.

Caleb, realizing the problem and cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner, pulled her to his chest, placing his lips at her ear. "There aren't any spiders in here." He said. "Don't worry. It was just a dream." Elena nodded stiffly and swallowed, but she did not take a step forward. Caleb nuzzled her cheek. "Listen," He said, letting go of her and stepping around her into the room. "Why don't you go and take a quick shower, and I'll check every last corner just to make sure, all right?"

Elena's eyes flew to his, and a small smile graced her lips. "Why are you so good to me?" She said, taking a tentative step over the threshold.

Caleb shrugged and grinned down at her. "Because I like it." He said. "And because I like you." He bent and kissed her lips, lingering a bit longer than he had planned. He pulled away and stepped into her bathroom, pulling her towel off the sink. "Here." He said. "You go on ahead."

Elena smirked and came in after him, picking up a small plastic basket containing her shampoo and things, and then she plucked the white, terry cloth robe off the back of the door. "I might need these, too." She said and then swept from the room, not giving it another glance.

Once she was gone, however, the smile disappeared from Caleb's face. He cursed Chase for doing this to her, for making her afraid of her one sanctuary in this new town. He knew that she wouldn't sleep a wink in this room for a long time to come. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, giving the room a cursory glance.

He hadn't really taken the time the look at the place she had made her own before. He smiled when he saw that every shelf, and almost every other available surface, was overflowing with books. Her laptop lay closed on her dresser, and next to it sat a box filled with bobby pins, obviously from last night.

There were no pictures on her mirror, as he was used to seeing in Kate and Sarah's room, but, then again, there wouldn't be if he and the others were her only friends in years. The right side of the dresser/desk was one of the only surfaces not cluttered with books. Instead, there rested two music boxes, her brush, and a bottle of perfume. One of the music boxes was very ornate, all gold and black with a white half-mask on the cover. He frowned, feeling that he should know what it was, but it evaded him so he decided he'd simply ask her about it later.

The other music box was Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast', and he smiled again, thinking how Reid was right about how Elena really made a great Belle. He opened the box, finding that it wasn't wound so it gave off no music, but it was filled with a few pieces of jewelry. He closed the box and assumed that the other was filled with the same.

He then continued his perusal of her room, although he didn't rifle through her drawers or anything. Her walls were not bare, as he had thought that they might be, but there were nine framed posters adorning her walls. From farther away, they looked like nothing, merely off white paper with a tiny piece of artwork in the middle, but when he got closer to one, he found that it was entitled 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and the blank paper around the beautiful artwork was really the entire play, every single line.

He went around to each of these posters, finding 'The Sonnets', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'King Lear', 'Macbeth', 'Othello', 'The Merchant Of Venice', 'Hamlet', and 'Much Ado About Nothing'. He grinned. This girl really did love Shakespeare. And this was confirmed even further when he found not only a beautiful, leather bound book containing every single thing the man ever wrote, but also individual paperback copies with beautiful cover art.

Still mulling this over, he found the one picture in the entire room. It was on her nightstand, in a very nice wooden frame. And it was of her parents and her. It must have been taken when she was about five or six. She really hadn't changed all that much over the years. Her hair was longer and a bit lighter, but her eyes were still the same, and so were her features. Apparently, she had always been a very tiny child because she didn't even have the chubby cheeks that children usually have around that age.

When he found the cute little stuffed dog on her bed, dressed in a Peter Pan costume, he remembered that Elena had left her Panda Bear lying on his couch. In fact, he smiled at the thought, she had set the bear down sometime into the second movie that they had watched, no longer feeling the need to clutch it in her lap.

"That's Lucas." Came her voice from the doorway, and he turned to see her closing the door behind her. The terry-cloth robe, though form-fitting, reached a little ways past her knees, and she had belted it tightly, revealing absolutely nothing. Caleb remembered how Sarah used to walk around in a towel, but he strangely found this even more enticing.

Her long, dark hair was turbaned in her towel, but her skin, what he could see of it, was flushed from her obviously hot shower, and pearls of water clung to her elegant neck and eyelashes. She moved to the bathroom and stowed away her basket before opening her closet.

"He's cute." Caleb said after clearing his throat. "And there are absolutely no spiders anywhere in sight." He added, and Elena threw a soft smile over her shoulder at him.

"Thank you." She said. "You didn't have to do that." And she began pulling out what she wanted to wear for the day.

Caleb took a deep breath. "Listen," He said. "I was thinking. I know that you aren't going to be able to sleep here for awhile, right?" Elena paused a moment before nodding briefly. "Well, I hope this doesn't sound too forward, but," He took another deep breath. "If you wanted to, you know, stay over at my place for a few days, I wouldn't mind. And my mother wouldn't either, I'm sure of it."

Elena stopped and turned to him, her clothes in her hands. "You don't have to do that, Caleb." She said. "Really, I'll be fine here."

Caleb watched her. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Elena looked around the room, biting her lip. Then she shook her head. "No." She said. "But I don't want you to go out of your way for me."

Caleb smiled at her. "I'm not going out of my way. We've got plenty of rooms. All you'd have to do is pack a bag. You have your car, so you can drive yourself, or I could even drive you, you know, to school and back. Besides, Panda Bear has already made himself comfortable on my couch, remember?"

Elena sighed and cast another glance around the room. "Are you sure?" She asked him, and he nodded, his smile growing. "All right." She said. "Thank you."

"It's no problem at all." He said. "Now, why don't you go change so that we can get out of here and grab some breakfast?"

Elena nodded and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Caleb sat on her bed and picked up the little dog, Lucas. He smiled as he pulled out the little gold-colored fabric dagger from his tiny scabbard and strapped it to the dog's arm. "There," He told it. "Now you can do battle against those evil spiders."

He set the stuffed dog back on the bed as Elena came out of the bathroom, twisting her wet hair into a braid. She wore her usual jeans and a bright yellow camisole under a pretty, dark olive-green sweater. She pushed her feet into her usual dark blue Adida's sandals as she wrapped the hair tie around the end of her hair.

"Won't your toes get cold?" Caleb asked, but she shook her head.

"My toes don't really get cold." She said. "I've worn these when it was snowing outside. Mind you, it doesn't snow a whole _lot_ where I'm from, but the cold's never really bothered them."

She then pulled a gym bag from the bottom of her closet and placed a few more items of clothing in it, along with her school uniform, and then she went to her dresser and opened a drawer. Caleb averted his eyes like a gentleman, but he _really_ wanted to see what she was putting in the bag.

As Elena was zipping the bag shut, there was a knock at her door. She opened it to reveal Reid and Tyler. "Hiya, Belle!" Reid cried, now completely awake, his blonde hair wet from his own shower. "Hey Caleb."

Caleb nodded to his friends. "Are you almost ready, Elena?" He asked, as he stood from the bed. Elena nodded and grabbed a brown newsboy hat from a plastic rack in her closet. Then the group went to collect Kate and Pogue and piled into the cars again, heading for Zumi's.

Once there, they found a group of comfortable armchairs, glad that it was a Sunday morning and almost no one else was there. Caleb placed his hands on Elena's shoulders after removing his coat. "What can I get for you?" He asked her, making sure that his tone made it known that he didn't want any arguments from her.

She smiled up at him. "Ya'll are just determined to spoil me rotten, aren't you?" She complained.

Reid reached over and tugged on her braid gently. "You bet your sweet Southern toush we are." He said.

Elena smirked at him, her eyes narrowed jokingly. Then she looked back up at Caleb. "I really have no idea what's here." She said.

Caleb smiled, but Reid laughed. "We've been here before, you know." He said. "On Monday? For ice cream?"

"I know that." Elena said, swatting at Reid's arm gently. "But I wasn't looking at coffee, then."

Caleb smile widened now. "I think I can figure it out." He said, his fingers brushing her neck as he left her to stand in line with Tyler and Pogue.

"So, what are you getting her?" Pogue asked, the corners of his mouth lifted in a patronizing smirk, which Caleb returned smugly.

"Something with chocolate and mint." He said, having remembered that she had gotten the mint chocolate chip ice cream the last time they had been here. Pogue nodded, impressed, as he turned to order his and Kate's drinks. Then Tyler ordered his, and it was Caleb's turn. "One French Press coffee, a double shot of Espresso, and a café mocha with the chocolate mint flavoring, please." He said, feeling very proud of himself.

The three boys then went back to their chairs to wait for the drinks. Elena looked at Caleb suspiciously. "What did you get me?" She asked.

Caleb just smiled. "It's a surprise." He said. "But I'm fairly sure that you'll like it." About four minutes later, the drinks came.

Reid was scandalized. "Where's mine?" He cried, staring around at everyone else's mugs, then at the empty space in front of him, and then accusingly at Tyler. "You didn't order me anything?"

Tyler shrugged. "You're not my date." He said, sipping his coffee nonchalantly. Reid's jaw dropped open comically, and everyone laughed at him.

Elena then picked up her own mug and sniffed it cautiously. Then, smiling faintly, she took a sip, her eyes closing with pleasure for a moment before looking at Caleb. "You're amazing." She said, and he smiled at her indulgently as she went back to her drink.

"Let me taste." Reid said, making a grab for Elena's mug, but the girl merely put up her elbow, blocking his reaching hands, and kept drinking. Reid sat back, perturbed. "Well, _that's_ not very Southern of you." He said.

Elena just grinned at him. "It's mint and chocolate." She said. "No one's getting any of this but me."

Reid glared at Caleb. "I hate you with a passion." He said, but Caleb just shrugged and took an exaggerated drink from his own cup, licking his lips. Reid growled slightly before launching out of his seat to place his own order.

While he was gone, Caleb set his cup down, his eyes resting on the smiling Elena. He leaned in close to her. "Do you think, maybe, I could have a little taste of it, Lena?" He asked, and her eyes met his, her smile growing.

She bit her lip. "Well…" She said, drawing the word out, contemplating. "I think I could maybe let _you_ try it. So long as you promise to only drink a little bit." Caleb nodded resolutely, tracing an 'X' on his chest before raising his right hand. Elena chuckled and handed him her mug.

He took it from her, his fingers brushing hers, and then raised it to his lips, his eyes never leaving hers. They were mostly green today, showing a bit of dark brown just on the outer rim of her irises, and he could barely see the elusive gold now that they were inside. But he didn't mind. He knew that the flecks were there, and that they would come back sooner or later.

He barely noticed the taste of the drink before he gave the mug back to her. She smiled. "What do you think?" She asked.

He smiled back, shrugging slightly. "It's very sweet." He said, and then he lowered his voice, murmuring, "Just like you." This sent the blood rushing to her cheeks again, and he kissed the one nearest him swiftly before settling back in his seat, picking up his own cup again.

"I saw that." Reid said, sauntering back over and plopping back in his own chair. "I thought you said no one else was going to drink that but you." He said, his eyes accusing Elena now, who only blushed harder, sipping her coffee again.

Caleb smiled at Reid. "It's just because she likes me more than she likes you." He said, and Elena coughed suddenly, nearly choking on her drink.

She looked over at Caleb and shook her head. "You two are absolutely-"

"Devastatingly handsome?" Reid interrupted, smiling at her seductively. Elena shook her head, giggling.

"Insufferable?" Caleb said, sipping his coffee.

Elena nodded. "Yes." She said. "Yes, that's it." And the morning went on like that, Reid, Caleb, and Elena bantering with each other, Pogue and Kate talking quietly together, and Tyler merely watching most of the time, chiming in his two cents worth whenever he felt like it.

Later, once everyone was fully caffeinated, the group decided to split up for the rest of the day. Tyler had some studying to do before Monday's classes, and Reid, typically, had not done his Latin homework before the very last minute. The two left in Tyler's hummer, heading back for the school, and the two couples were left together.

Though, they didn't stay that way for very long. Pogue and Kate had really wanted some time to themselves, so after asking Elena to drive them all back to the Danvers' mansion, Caleb let Pogue borrow his car so that the two could have some much needed alone time. Then, he was finally left alone with Elena.

Unfortunately, he couldn't really think of anything to do, because, quite frankly, there _wasn't_ that much to do in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He wracked his brain. "Did you have any shopping that you needed to do?" He asked.

Elena bit her lip, thinking, but then shook her head. "Not really, no." She said.

"We could see another movie?" He said.

Elena nodded. "That'd be all right." She said, smiling at him from behind the wheel.

Caleb smiled back at her. "Great," He said. "A movie it is, then." And then, they could go to lunch, and then… Well, he didn't know what then.

As they drove back towards the main part of town, he wanted to talk to her about the plays that she wanted to do when the Drama Club finally started up, but he was very afraid, now that he thought about it, that he might not be able to find anything else to talk about over dinner later that evening.

But, then again, he didn't want to be completely silent right now, either, although it wasn't an awkward silence. It was actually quite comfortable.

Elena glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "So," She said. "I'll bet that Ipswich is just like my old town, and that there's really nothing at all to do here, is there?"

Caleb laughed. "No." He said, shaking his head. "There really isn't. What did people in your town do on the weekends?"

Elena shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea." She said, her smile dimming slightly.

Caleb felt a little ashamed of himself; of course the girl wouldn't have known what the kids did in her old town, because they certainly wouldn't have done it with her. He was about to apologize, but he knew what her response would be, so there wasn't really any point. Instead, he said resolutely, "Well, I'll think of something."

And he thought very hard all the way to the small movie theatre, but he still hadn't come up with anything when Elena parked the car. "I'll get the snacks if you get the tickets?" Elena asked, smiling over at him brightly.

Caleb couldn't help but smile back at her. "All right." He said, indulging her. The two then got out of the car. "What do you want to see?" He asked her, but she just shrugged. "Well, then," He said, walking around the car and offering his hand to her. "Let's see what there is, shall we?"

Elena took his hand and he led her up to the window, both searching the times to see what was playing soon. "It looks like the only one showing soon is 'The Illusionist'." Elena said, turning to him. "Do you want to see that?"

Caleb nodded. "Sure." He said, and stepped closer to the window, not releasing her hand. "Two for the noon showing of 'The Illusionist', please." He told the boy, who looked to be a sophomore, behind the glass. The kid rattled off the amount, and Caleb slid the money under the partition, receiving the tickets back. "Ready?" He said, looking back down at Elena, who nodded.

They couple went inside and Elena paid for two large drinks and a large popcorn for them to share before they went to take their seats in the theatre. They still had about twenty minutes before the film began, but already there were a lot of high school kids waiting and goofing off.

Caleb guided Elena to a section that wasn't very crowded, and the two sat. "I don't even know what this movie is about." Elena said, chuckling and turning in her chair to face him."

Caleb shook his head. "All I know is that it's about two magicians." He said.

Elena smiled up at him. Even sitting down, she was a head shorter than he was, and he had to admit that it made him feel… powerful and protective, and that made him very happy in these current situations with Chase. "Then it'll be a surprise for both of us." She said.

Caleb had to ask his next question, even though he knew that he probably shouldn't. "So, besides Monday, you haven't been in a theatre in…?"

Elena sighed quietly, and leaned back in her chair. "About two years." She said, and then she smiled a bit sarcastically. "You have no idea. I didn't go _anywhere._ I went to school, and then I went home, and that was it. I didn't go out shopping, I didn't go to the theatre; I never went to any dances, or any local hangouts. This is the most I've been out and about in…" She nodded. "Yes, two years."

Caleb looked at her, squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry." He said.

Elena shrugged. "It's all right." She said. "After a while, I didn't mind so much. It's probably a very good thing that I love to read, or else it would have been a lot worse."

Caleb took this new subject and ran with it, seeing that all this talk about her old town was making her a bit uncomfortable. "Yes, I saw all of the books in your room."

Elena smiled. "Oh, those are nothing. I have my own library back home. It's small, not like the main library in our house, but it's all mine."

"You like Shakespeare a lot, Kate said." Caleb said.

Elena nodded. "I do." She said, grinning now. "I think I've got almost everything memorized, except I only have one sonnet, but I think it's going to stay that way, because there are _far_ too many."

"You know, I'm taking a Shakespeare class." He said. "Kate and Pogue were wondering why you didn't."

Elena shrugged. "I already know almost everything there is to know about him. And I already understand the language that he uses, and the different meanings in everything. I guess I was afraid that having to discuss all of it in detail with people who didn't get what Shakespeare was really saying would drive me insane."

Caleb nodded. "I can see that." He said. "I know that I don't understand it, and there are people in that class who already understand less of it than I do. Of course, it would have been a very easy A."

Elena smiled again. "Yes, you're very right about that, it would have been. By the way, how do you like your French Literature class?" She asked.

"It's interesting." He said. "There are a lot of books in there that I've already seen the movies of, though, so it's easier than I thought it might be."

Elena smirked. "You think that now." She said. "But the movies that you've seen probably aren't like the novels much at all." She warned. "There are so many details that the movies leave out. Like The Count of Monte Cristo, for instance? In the book, there's a major character that the film cut out entirely."

"Really?" Caleb asked. "I didn't know that."

Elena nodded, curling one leg under her, really getting into the subject. "Yes, her name is Haydee. I played her my freshman year. Fernand Mondego murdered her father and then sold she and her mother into slavery. Edmond Dantes found her many years later, and brought her to Paris where she could help him exact his revenge on Mondego by turning him in for war crimes."

"Fascinating." Caleb said, awed both by her knowledge and the passion that glowed in her beautiful eyes.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" She said, smiling happily. "You really _must_ read the novels. I have them, if you'd like to borrow them. I think I may have written in quite a few of them. Trivia about the original editions. Did you know that the Count of Monte Cristo was originally a series entitled _Le Journal des Debats_? It wasn't a novel at all. It appeared in newspapers, I believe it was monthly, for about two years before it was finished."

"Is The Count of Monte Cristo your favorite book, by any chance?" Caleb asked, severely intrigued by this girl.

Elena blushed. "No." she said. "It's up there in my top twenty, I believe, but it's not my favorite."

"What is?" Caleb asked.

Elena bit her lip, thinking hard. "That's so hard." She said, laughing. "I guess, Phantom of the Opera is right up there, and so is Pride and Prejudice. No! I know! It's The Scarlet Pimpernel." She said at last, grinning.

Caleb laughed. "Which I get to read, but you don't." He said. "I'm sorry."

But Elena shook her head. "Oh, no!" She said. "I've read it hundreds of times. So often, in fact, that I've had to buy two more copies since the others have begun to fall apart."

"So, what trivia do you know about The Scarlet Pimpernel?" Caleb asked, and had the pleasure of seeing Elena's eyes begin to glow again.

"Well," She said. "The authoress, Baroness Emmuska Orczy was Hungarian, and she moved to England when she was fifteen, and all of her manuscripts were in English."

Caleb was confused. "Then why do they have the book under French Literature?" He asked.

Elena shrugged. "I believe that it's because it's based so much in French history, far more so than in British, and because it details the conditions during the French Revolution so well. But, the greatest thing, is that the Baroness went to school to become a painter, but she then wrote the entire novel in only five weeks, after she got the idea on one of the underground train platforms in London."

"And, how does the novel differ from the movie with Jane Seymour?" Caleb asked, really getting into this now.

Elena laughed. "The screenplay for that movie was based off of both The Scarlet Pimpernel _and_ A Tale of Two Cities. So, though most of it _is_ from The Scarlet Pimpernel, many details from that book are overlooked for ones that were deemed to be better for the theatrics of the film from the A Tale of Two Cities."

"You are absolutely amazing." Caleb said, unable to keep himself from staring at her in awe.

Elena bit her lip and flushed, looking away and tucking an escaped piece of hair behind her ear. Only now did Caleb realize that she had left her hat in the car. "Thanks." She said.

"No." Caleb said. "I mean it! You're a well of the most fascinating information I've ever heard. And your far more entertaining that my professor is."

Elena smiled at him, still embarrassed. "Thank you." She said.

Caleb moved closer to her. "Would you mind, terribly, being my tutor for French Lit.?" He asked.

Elena's smiled widened and she laughed, nodding. "Sure." She said. "But, if I start babbling and ranting, you really _must_ stop me."

"Why?" Caleb asked.

"Because I'm the only one talking!" She said sounding slightly scandalized. "That's not very fair, now is it?"

Caleb shrugged. "I didn't mind it in the least." He said. "I like hearing you talk."

Elena smirked. "Well, now it's your turn, mister." She said.

But Caleb shook his head and gestured to the dimming lights. "No," He said. "Now it's time for the movie." He grinned at her as they were sent into darkness.

But then he felt her breath quite near his ear. "Afterwards, you're in for it." She whispered, sending shivers down his spine.

He retaliated by reached up and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him and kissing her cheek lingeringly before whispering, "I'm looking forward to it." And he felt her shiver as well, before he heard a soft chuckle, and then her head fell to his shoulder.


End file.
